II.— Sir  John    Aird,   B.irt.,    M,P. 

In  reply  to  your  inquiry  I  would  reply  that  "  manners 
maketh  the  man,"  and  the  posses-  •" 

BIOII  of  this  is  far  more  valuable 
for  a  youth  starting  in  life  than 
the  possession  o!;  money. 


V 


«     » 


MAN    LIMITLESS 


Man  Limitless 


BY 

FLOYD  B.  WILSON 


or 
"PATHS    TO    POWER 


R.    F.    FEN  NO     &     COMPANY 

9  and  1 1  East  Sixteenth  Street,  New  York 


Copyright,  1905 
By  R.  F.  Fenno  &  Company 


All  rights  reserved 


Itlan  Limitless 


TO 

R.  E.  T. 

CO-WORKER  WITH  ME  IN  THE  UNDEFINED  AND  AS 

YET  SUPERFICIALLY  EXPLORED  REALMS 

OF  MYSTICISM  TO  LEARN  AND 

TO  DISCOVER  TRUTH 


INTRODUCTION. 

History  has  shown,  that  in  every  step  man 
has  taken  upward  to  a  higher  plane  of  mental 
activity  and  ideality,  he  has  taken  each  one  by 
the  overcoming  of  certain  environments  and  by 
the  freeing  himself  from  some  early  beliefs 
which  a  broadening  intelligence  discovered  to 
be  fallacious.  In  advancing  he  has,  however,  al- 
ways carried  with  him  certain  dogmas  of  error 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  others  which  had  for- 
merly fettered  him  were  thrown  aside.  Having 
made  the  intellectual  advance,  more  light  grad- 
ually came;  and,  with  the  mental  horizon  wi- 
dened by  years  of  thoughtful  observation,  an- 
other and  another  step  has  been  taken.  At  each 
advance  some  errors  have  been  dropped,  while 
some  were  still  retained  and  carried  forward.  As 
I  follow  the  ascent  of  man  toward  complete  men- 
tal freedom,  I  can  see  most  clearly  that  he  has 
forged  his  own  fetters,  and  that  he  alone  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  slow  growth. 

The  dawning  of  the  new  century  is  marked  as 
a  thought-period  in  history.  Representative  man 


8  Introduction. 

is  doing  his  own  thinking.  He  has  advanced  to 
a  point  where  his  consciousness  has  awakened  to 
a  conception  of  his  possibilities.  Step  by  step 
he  has  progressed  through  the  ages ;  now,  at  one 
leap  or  bound,  he  links  himself  to  Infinity  and 
claims  the  realization  of  his  hopes  and  ideals  as 
his  birthright.  He  demands  if  Infinity  holds 
secrets  that  they  shall  be  disclosed  to  him;  be- 
cause he  is  one  with  infinite  life. 

Knowing  this  plane  is  attainable  in  the  present 
age,  and  believing  thousands  and  thousands  are 
now  approaching  it,  I  present  this  volume,  point- 
ing out  the  mental  paths  I  have  traversed  and 
which  led  me  to  recognize  man's  heritage  of 
power  opening  into  his  limitless  possibilities. 

FLOYD  B.  WILSON. 

New  York,  1905. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Man    Limitless 13 

Love 3i 

The  Christ  Principle  through  Intuition        .         .  45 

Work 65 

Control  of  Memory 87 

Suggestion 105 

Must  Age  Enfeeble? 121 

Pathway  to  Accomplishment          ....  137 

Children  of  the  Gods 149 

Shakespeare's  Ariel 169 

Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding       .  189 


"Life  itself  has  speech  and  is  never  silent. 
And  its  utterance  is  not,  as  you  that  are  deaf 
may  suppose,  a  cry :  it  is  a  song.  Learn  from  it 
that  you  are  a  part  of  the  harmony;  learn  from 
it  to  obey  the  laws  of  harmony." — From  "Light 
on  the  Path." 

"The  Universe  exists  for  man.  It  is  man's 
heritage,  man's  arena,  man's  throne.  It  has  no 
secrets  which  he  cannot  grasp,  no  barriers  which 
he  cannot  surmount,  no  forces  hostile  to  him 
which  he  cannot  conquer." — Orlando  J.  Smith  in 
"  Eternalism." 


ii 


I  know  I  have  the  right  to  draw  from  the 
universal  all  I  would  to  fulfill  any  upward,  noble 
longing  of  my  soul;  and  I  know  I  shall  receive, 
if  I  harmonize  myself  with  the  throbbing  vibra- 
tions of  infinite  force.  That  harmonizing,  how- 
ever, is  my  task,  my  responsibility,  and  my  joy. 


MAN    LIMITLESS. 

From  childhood,  youth  is  found  estimating  his 
physical  and  mental  strength  by  comparison  with 
his  fellows.  Then,  years  attained  or  differences 
of  ages  form  the  criterion  by  which  measure- 
ments are  made.  If  he  be  younger  than  his  com- 
panion, that  is  a  sufficient  factor  or  excuse 
for  his  being  a  class  below  in  studies,  or  a  less 
desirable  partner  in  a  feat  of  strength  on  the 
playground.  If  ambitious  in  one  or  both  of 
these  lines,  he  may  pride  himself  in  outstripping 
those  of  his  own  age  a  year  or  more.  Fixed  in 
one's  early  memories  are  these  comparisons  in 
the  study  of  limitations,  coupled  with  a  certain 
degree  of  satisfaction  if  self-examination  placed 
him  in  rank  a  shade  above  the  average  standard. 
From  play-mates,  from  parents,  from  teachers, 
from  friends  comes  this  estimation  by  compari- 
son with  others.  It  often  wakens  to  ambitions, 
and  this  is  healthful ;  but  about  all  it  draws  un- 
intentionally the  circles  of  limitation. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  effect  of  such  en- 
vironment surrounding  one  is  to  center  or  direct 

13 


14  Man  Limitless. 

the  mind  to  the  study  of  his  own  limitations, 
rather  than  to  that  of  his  unmeasured  possibil- 
ities. How  long  it  may  take  to  outgrow  this 
condition  when  a  wider  philosophy  may  be  em- 
braced, each  must  learn  for  himself. 

Considering  the  growth  of  man  during  the 
past  century,  one  may  note  that  although  Prot- 
estantism long  before  had  organized  itself  and 
brought  forth  several  sects,  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  church  of  Rome,  the  various  schools 
and  colleges  continued  essentially  in  type  ec- 
clesiastic— each  had  its  own  dogmas  and  they 
stood  sentinel  barring  advance,  for  they  assumed 
to  fix  the  boundary  line  of  human  knowledge, 
and  thus  drew  down  the  curtains  of  limitations 
hiding  from  man  the  vistas  beyond. 

One  purpose  of  all  religions,  however,  was 
and  is  to  teach  the  relationship  between  man  and 
God.  Even  the  most  narrow  of  the  creeds  have 
declared,  in  substance,  that  man  could  do  noth- 
ing against  the  will  or  purpose  of  God.  God 
was  to  be  sought  in  prayer  to  help  man  to  his 
needs.  It  was  God  who  saved  him  from  dangers 
— God  who  gave  him  health — God  who  sent  him 
sickness  or  sorrow  in  punishment  for  wrongs — 
God  who  gave  him  joy — God  who  prospered  him 
— God  who  alone  might  save  him — God  who 
loved  him.  This  God  was  all-powerful.  He  sent 


Man    Limitless.  i$ 

the  rain  and  the  sunshine — the  buds  and  the  blos- 
soms— the  seed-time  and  the  harvest.  I  know 
of  no  modern  Western  religion  that  does  not  in- 
vest God  with  all  this  power,  and  which  does  not 
teach  that  man  should  be  thankful  to  God  for 
every  blessing  he  enjoys. 

If  I  state  correctly  the  teachings  of  our  West- 
ern religions,  might  not  this  question  be  pro- 
pounded with  assurance  of  an  affirmative  reply: 
If  one  had  complete  favor  with  God,  might  not 
God,  if  he  would,  grant  that  favored  one  all 
the  blessings  and  powers  craved,  and  would  not 
that  one  then  be,  in  those  particulars,  at  least, 
equal  to  God  ?  Even  according  to  the  old  creeds, 
narrow  as  many  of  them  were,  they  taught,  in 
essence,  that  power  came  to  man  as  a  direct  trans- 
mission from  God.  It  came  from  an  omnipotent 
energy,  and  yet  man  had  access  to  that  energy. 
The  way  to  obtain  God's  favor  was  somewhat 
obscure.  To  guide  one  therein,  platitudes  were 
made  use  of.  "Man  must  obey  God's  will," 
"Man  must  humble  himself  before  God,"  "Man 
must  have  a  new  birth,"  were  among  the  many 
that  might  be  cited.  Let  one  follow  these  indefi- 
nite instructions  as  best  he  might,  yet  unless  he 
wrapped  about  him  an  unswerving  faith,  there 
was  promised  little  hope  of  attainment.  In 
short,  God  might  have  a  wise  purpose  in  with- 


16  Man  Limitless. 

holding  the  blessings  sought,  so  religion  itself 
acknowledged  its  own  limitations.  Instead  of 
teaching  clearly  a  definite  theory  as  to  the  rela- 
tionship between  man  and  God,  and  how  to  bind 
the  human  with  the  Infinite,  it  merely  suggested 
that  through  prayer  and  sacrifice  there  was  a 
way,  and  further  that  that  way  might  be  found. 
Each  must  seek  for  himself.  Each  must  hope, 
and  pray — then  be  content,  whether  the  coveted 
blessings  were  received  or  not. 

With  the  dawning  of  the  twentieth  century, 
we  find  a  greater  liberality  in  creeds — a  broader 
view  of  the  Infinite  even  among  those  who  cling 
to  belief  in  the  personality  of  God.  They  see  in 
their  churches  good  fruits — they  enjoy  the  social 
meetings — the  intellectual  treats  given  by  the 
clergy — the  fine  choirs  and  soloists  who  furnish 
music — and  all  seem  to  have  a  place  in  modern 
civilization.  I  present  here  no  criticisms  on  this. 
When  a  more  advanced  civilization  demands 
more,  it  will  have  it. 

My  purpose  in  leading  up  to  my  theme  in  this 
way,  however,  is  to  show  that  the  crudest  dogmas 
all  agreed  that  man  was  a  recipient  of  power 
from  without — from  God.  If  the  way  to  attain 
were  not  made  clear,  why  that  is  only  one  of 
a  myriad  of  obscurities  of  modern  theology. 
There  was  the  source  of  power  from  which  man 


Man    Limitless.  17 

must  draw  to  attain  his  purpose.  Thus  vaguely 
all  these  creeds  taught  man's  wonderful,  limit- 
less possibilities  when  he  labored  under  God's 
guidance  and  favor. 

Religion,  in  its  broadest  sense,  signifies  the  up- 
reaching  of  man  to  all  his  possibilities.  In  its 
original  signification,  it  represented  the  binding 
of  the  human  back  to  its  own  fatherhood.  Study 
ancient  or  modern  creeds  as  one  will,  there  is 
always  found  within  them  a  directing  power 
never  compassed,  exerting  its  indomitable  force 
over  man.  This  was  called  God.  The  ancient 
Jew  invested  it,  to  the  average  reader,  with  a 
tyrannous  personality,  while  the  modern  Jew 
recognizes  no  personal  God.  Practically  every 
branch  of  the  Christian  Church  holds  to  the 
personal  idea  comprised  in  a  mystic  trinity. 
They  approach  or  link  themselves  with  this 
omniscient  power  by  prayer  or  petition,  after 
first  advising  God  by  way  of  preface,  of  his  own 
promises  to  man.  They  take  God  at  what  they 
call  his  word.  He  has  placed  them  here.  He 
has  made  certain  promises.  They  ask  their  ful- 
fillment, conditioned  if  this  be  consistent  with 
his  will  and  purpose. 

My  view  of  God  is  broader  than  that.  Living 
within  that  limitless  source  of  all  power,  I  know 
I  have  the  right  to  draw  from  it  all  I  would  to 


i8  Man  Limitless. 

fulfill  any  upward,  noble  longing  of  my  soul ; 
and  I  know  I  shall  receive,  if  I  harmonize  myself 
with  the  throbbing  vibrations  of  infinite  force. 
That  harmonizing,  however,  is  my  task — my  re- 
sponsibility and  my  joy. 

Studying  man  in  the  abstract  then,  through 
the  dogmas  of  ancient  and  modern  creeds,  we  see 
he  has  been  declared,  even  by  them,  limitless. 
He  has  access  to  infinite  power — if  the  Infinite 
favor  him  as  the  Infinite  may,  he  himself  be- 
comes a  God.  These  dogmas  within  themselves 
led  up  to  this  conclusion,  yet  the  clergy  fell  short 
of  pursuing  them  to  this  point.  Emerson  dared 
follow  the  logical  premises  to  the  inference  to 
be  drawn  from  them  and  boldly  declared  that 
"the  simplest  person,  who,  in  his  integrity, 
worships  God,  becomes  God ; ' '  and  that  that  one 
"believes  he  cannot  escape  from  his  good — that 
the  Highest  dwells  within  him." 

If,  therefore,  the  dogmas  of  ancient  as  well 
as  modern  religions  found  man  all  powerful  and 
limitless  if  God  were  with  him,  they  reflect  the 
human  longing.  In  many  of  them,  we  may  see 
the  reflection  of  the  age,  its  crudities  and  errors ; 
but,  back  of  all,  is  the  human  longing  to  blend 
itself  with  an  energy  uncomprehended,  yet  be- 
lieved to  exist  and  to  encompass  all. 

Modern  science  has  taught  us  that  light  and 


Man    Limitless.  19 

sound  are,  to  the  brain,  simply  different  intensi- 
ties of  motion ;  and  this  may  lead  to  discoveries 
of  forces  within  man  that  could  not  have  been 
conceived  of  till  this  revelation  was  made.  One 
set  of  vibrations  is  carried  through  the  medium 
of  the  ear  to  the  brain  and  interpreted  sound; 
another  impresses  itself  upon  the  optic  nerve 
and  is  distinguished  as  color  or  form.  Methods 
to  awaken  atrophied  parts  of  the  body  have  been 
learned,  because  of  our  clearer  conception  of  all 
that  is  embraced  in  that  single  word,  motion. 
The  measuring  of  the  vibration  of  force  from 
planet  to  planet,  through  the  medium  of  reflected 
light,  has  widened  man's  conception  of  the  uni- 
verse. As  he  learns  more  of  it,  his  own  horizon 
of  knowledge  broadens — his  own  conception  of 
his  place  in  the  universe.  The  great  strides  man 
has  made  during  the  past  fifty  years  have  lifted 
him  upward,  toward  the  Infinite,  so  that  he 
may  now  receive,  through  vibrations,  more  of 
that  unmeasured,  undefined,  yet  all-pervading 
power.  To  avail  ourselves  of  the  wisdom  of 
others,  we  must,  at  least,  have  unfolded  mentally 
so  as  to  appreciate  the  wisdom  they  possess.  To 
obtain  the  power  from  the  Infinite  which  we 
desire,  we  must  be  developed  consciously  so  as 
to  be  able  to  receive  and  hold  the  vital,  magnetic 


2O  Man  Limitless. 

vibrations  that  are  flashed  from  infinite  energy 
through  the  ethers  to  intelligence. 

Although  man  may  have  had  erroneous  con- 
ceptions of  God  and  the  relationship  existing  be- 
tween him  and  the  source  of  power;  still,  as  he 
has  evolved  and  learned  to  think  and  reason  in- 
dependent of  creeds  or  dogmas  or  majorities,  the 
possibility  of  a  personality  directing  infinite 
force  is  passing  from  consciousness.  Can  human 
intelligence  conceive  of  a  personality  combined 
with  omniscience,  omnipotence  and  omnipres- 
ence ?  Man  has  evolved  into  a  greater  man,  and 
he  has  extended  his  relationship  with  Being — he 
has  learned,  in  some  degree,  how  to  appropriate 
or  avail  himself  of  some  of  its  energy — he  has 
commenced  to  walk  with  God.  Still  he  cannot 
claim  familiarity,  for  his  comprehension  has  as 
yet  embraced  only  the  little  his  unfoldment  per- 
mits him  to  grasp.  He  has  barely  started  to  cul- 
tivate acquaintance  with  God,  or  Energy. 

The  evolution  of  man  is  now  advancing  him 
to  a  plane  above  where  the  mists  of  ignorant 
superstitions  can  rise.  The  old  dogmas  pre- 
sented paths  that  apparently  started  one  right, 
but  led  to  tangled  morasses.  New  paths  ap- 
peared which  seemed  to  help  to  extricate,  but 
pursued,  led  to  shades  of  density  and  darkness. 
Emerging  from  these,  led  by  flashes  from  infinite 


Man    Limitless.  21 

light,  man  has  continued  in  his  upward  march. 
A  new  century  has  dawned;  and  now,  standing 
on  a  plane  over  which  bright  sunlight  spreads, 
he  sees  something  of  the  vastness  of  meaning  and 
grandeur  in  a  human  life.  Within  that  life  is 
the  germ  of  infinite  possibilities.  He  is  now  not 
oppressed  with  the  fear  of  an  omnipotent  force 
restraining  him  as  he  journeys  onward  in  pur- 
suit of  knowledge.  He  is  free,  and  within  him- 
self a  new  power  has  taken  lodgment.  This  may 
be  termed  a  mental  growth,  but  it  is  more — it  is 
an  ascent  through  evolution  to  a  higher  manhood. 
If  one  has  reached  this  plane  and  looks  back- 
ward, he  will  discover  that  the  long  struggle 
man  has  made  to  acquire  knowledge  was  largely 
a  battle  with  ignorance.  Now  he  can  understand 
why  dogmas  of  error  existed  and  restrained.  In 
reasoning  from  cause  to  effect,  the  teachers  could 
only  follow  lines  within  the  range  of  their  own 
horizon  of  knowledge.  No  one — no  philosophy 
is  to  be  censured  or  criticized.  Church  dogmas 
held  high  the  dangers  of  mental  plunges  beyond 
their  own  sounded  depths;  and  fear  was  trans- 
formed into  an  entity  that  stood  guard  over 
man's  intellectual  advancement.  These  dogmas 
claimed  to  tell  where  the  priceless  jewels  man 
was  seeking  for  were  to  be  found — they  suggested 
ways  to  reach  them;  and  then,  in  substance,  de- 


22  Man   Limitless. 

clared  man  should  love  the  Infinite  just  as 
fondly  whether  his  prayers  were  granted  or 
not. 

Late  in  the  century  past  a  new  sect  appeared 
under  the  appellation,  Christian  Scientists. 
Some  of  their  statements  were  quite  astounding 
to  modern  methods  of  thinking.  The  funda- 
mental pillars  of  their  philosophy  were:  There 
is  no  matter,  and  disease  is  a  delusion  of  sense. 
They  grew  and  multiplied,  and  now  claim  about 
two  millions  of  converts  in  this  country.  Among 
these  are  prominent  lawyers,  judges,  business 
men,  soldiers,  orators  and  poets.  They  claim 
wonderful  cures  have  been  brought  about 
through  the  simple  agency  of  affirmation  and 
denial.  In  theory,  they  claim  by  these  means 
to  draw  power  from  infinite  energy,  or  to  attune 
the  vibrative  force  enveloping  one  to  that  great 
harmony.  The  mental  scientists,  on  the  other 
hand,  believe  in  the  potency  of  affirmations,  but 
reject  denials  in  toto.  They  are  not  yet  as 
firmly  organized  a  body  as  the  Christian  Scien- 
tists, as  they  have  no  recognized  head  or  synod. 
Perhaps  this  is  well  for  it  gives  each  individual 
freedom.  Both  the  Christian  and  the  mental 
scientists  have  eliminated  the  personal  God  from 
their  written  or  unwritten  creeds ;  and  both  are 
now  teaching  the  limitlessness  of  man.  Their 


Man   Limitless.  23 

prayers  are  the  affirmations  of  health,  power, 
wealth,  joy,  thus  enveloping  their  selfhoods  with 
an  attractive  atmosphere  which  can  receive  the 
vibrations  from  infinite  force.  This  they  claim 
brings  to  one  the  realization  of  desire. 

Modern  spiritualism  comes  forward  also,  and 
shows  an  astonishingly  large  body  of  converts, 
though  its  history  extends  back  only  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  century  just  passed.  In  some  partic- 
ulars it  is  closely  allied  to  both  the  Christian 
and  mental  scientists,  though  the  stricter  fol- 
lowers of  either  may  deny  the  possibility  of  in- 
tercourse between  those  dwelling  here  and  those 
who  have  passed  to  what  may  be  beyond.  The 
power  of  thought,  however,  to  bring  one  his  de- 
sires, is  clearly  accepted  by  the  modern  spirit- 
ists. They  are  one  with  the  mental  and  Chris- 
tian scientists  on  this,  though  the  way  the  end 
may  be  brought  about  differs.  They  believe 
each  one  draws  about  himself  spirit  guides  and 
these  are  the  messengers  and  forces  to  assist 
him  to  the  attainment  of  desire. 

The  Hindus  who  follow  the  teachings  of 
Buddha  compress  within  two  words,  Karma 
Yoga,  which  may  be  translated  work  or  doing 
work,  their  methods  and  ways,  not  of  linking  or 
binding  man  to  infinite  force,  but  of  attaining 
knowledge  and  teaching  man  that  within  his 


24  Man   Limitless. 

very  being  all  force  is  coiled  up.  They  boldly 
assert  that  this  human  body  is  the  greatest  body 
in  the  universe,  and  a  human  being  the  greatest 
being ;  that  man  is  higher  than  all  animals,  than 
all  angels;  that  none  is  greater  than  man.  To 
bring  one  to  knowledge  of  his  true  selfhood  a 
course  of  discipline  is  voluntarily  entered  upon 
by  those  who  are  desirous  of  attaining  mastery. 
With  purpose  true  and  steadfastness  in  contin- 
uing the  work,  it  is  claimed  the  Yogi  will,  in  due 
time,  find  himself  (as  he  is  and  always  was) 
the  essence  of  knowledge,  the  immortal,  the  all- 
pervading.  The  Hindus  recognize  inspiration  in 
every  man's  nature  to  be  awakened  or  discov- 
ered by  discipline,  and  the  ancient  prophets  of 
the  world  as  great  Yogis  of  the  past.  In  their 
philosophy,  limits  to  man's  powers  are  incom- 
prehensible. 

I  claim,  therefore,  that  in  naming  man  limit- 
less I  have  only  voiced  the  teachings  of  the 
ages.  I  am  aware  that  from  the  pulpits  we  are 
often  told  much  of  man's  weakness  and  worth- 
lessness.  It  seems  that  the  clergy  are  prone  to 
overlook  the  fact  that  their  own  dogmas  also  tell 
of  man's  divine  origin  and  his  infinite  possibili- 
ties, if  he  enjoy  the  favor  of  God.  In  the  poetry 
of  the  anti- Jacobin,  I  find : 


Man    Limitless.  25 

"Man  only, — rash,  refined,  presumptuous  Man — 
Starts  from  his  rank  and  mars  Creation's  plan! 
Born  the  free  heir  of  nature's  wide  domain, 
To  art's  strict  limits  bounds  his  narrowed  reign; 
Resigns  his  native  rights  for  meaner  things, 
For  Faith  and  Fetters,  Laws  and  Priests  and 
Kings." 

Bailey  in  Festus  gives  direction  as  though  in- 
spired : 

"Let  each  man  think  himself  an  act  of  God, 
His  mind  a  thought,  his  life  a  breath  of  God." 

Robert  Browning  caught  a  clear  vision  of  the 
coming  man  with  limitless  possibilities  beyond: 

"Man's  self  is  not  yet  man, 

Nor  shall  I  deem  his  object  saved,  his  end 

Attained,  his  genuine  strength  put  fairly  forth, 

While  only  here  and  there  a  star  dispels 

The  Darkness,  here  and  there  a  towering  mind 

O'erlooks  its  prostrate  fellows.     When  the  host 

Is  out  at  once,  to  the  despair  of  night; 

When  all  mankind  alike  is  perfected, 

Equal  in  full-blown  power, — then,  not  till  then, 

I  say,  begins  man's  general  infancy." 

If  one  would  rise  above  his  environment,  lift 


26  Man   Limitless. 

himself  out  of  the  steady  refrain  of  man's  crit- 
icism on  man,  forget  the  emphasized  short- 
comings of  humanity  as  told  too  often  by  many 
preachers  and  orators,  and  silently  contemplate 
the  evolution  or  ascent  of  man  as  shown  by 
authentic  history,  I  feel  he  would  be  convinced 
that  man's  possible  attainments  cannot  be  meas- 
ured— that  boundary  lines  to  his  onward  intel- 
lectual march  are  unthinkable. 

Once  let  man  place  himself  firmly  on  this 
plane,  and  he  will  know  that  it  is  folly  to  longer 
question  if  the  wish  of  his  soul  may  be  gratified. 
If  man  is  limitless,  every  desire  of  his  soul  can 
be  won.  Let  him  grasp  this  truth  so  fully  and 
completely  that  none  of  the  dogmas  of  ignorance 
and  superstition  can  make  him  waver  for  a  mo- 
ment. This  is  his  primary  task,  in  order  that 
he  may  use  wisely  the  mighty  forces  within  his 
own  selfhood. 

Standing  then  secure  on  this  intellectual 
height,  he  may  note  that  the  teachings  of  the  ages 
show  he  must  draw  new  power  to  himself  from 
infinite  energy  of  which  he  is  a  part,  or  uncoil 
it  from  the  soul  reservoir  within  himself.  It 
may  be  that  by  our  modern  methods  of  discipline 
to  consciously  receive  the  vibrations  from  the 
Unlimited,  it  also  is  required  that  there  may  be 
an  unwinding,  to  some  extent,  of  this  coil  of 


Man    Limitless.  27 

knowledge  within  the  soul  in  order  that  our  con- 
scious selves  may  be  recipient.  I  am  convinced 
from  my  own  experiments  and  methods  of  dis- 
cipline (though  also  recognizing  that  power  can 
be  drawn  from  the  Universal)  that  the  Hindu 
philosophy  is  true — that  within  the  soul  of  man 
there  is  a  reservoir  of  wisdom.  As  one  learns  to 
enter  this  mighty  reservoir,  this  cathedral  of 
power,  consciousness  broadens ;  and  then  his  up- 
liftment  will  permit  him  to  touch  other  keys  of 
Energy's  magic  harp  of  harmony.  Man's 
growth  begins  in  bringing  to  consciousness  some 
of  this  knowledge  sealed  within,  then  advancing 
step  by  step  till  he  finds  himself  in  perfect  tune 
with  the  harp  of  infinite  Energy,  its  vibrations 
are  entered  and  he  becomes  of  them  a  part,  con- 
sciously contributing  to  and  receiving  from  the 
pulsating  force  guarding  and  encircling  the  uni- 
verse. When  discipline  has  brought  him  this 
development,  then  he  may  know  and  sing,  with 
the  poet,  to  all  the  world: 

"No  pent-up  Utica  contracts  our  powers, 
But  the  whole  boundless  universe  is  ours." 


"When  we  understand  love  as  a  force,  not  as 
a  weakness,  we  find  in  it  the  very  Key  to  ever- 
lasting power.  Nothing  can  successfully  oppose 
us  when  we  have  identified  ourselves  with  the 
Supreme  Love." — Charles  B.  Newcomb  in  "Dis- 
covery of  a  Lost  Trail.'' 


Love  is  only  indomitable  when  it  holds  su- 
preme control — it  holds  supreme  control  when 
it  fills  our  minds  so  completely  that  there  is  no 
room  for  hate  or  doubt.  Such  love  is  so  strong 
and  absolute  that  it  will  enter  into  no  compro- 
mise or  bargain.  There  can  be  nothing  commer- 
cial in  its  nature.  It  does  not  offer  to  give  with 
any  proviso  as  to  receiving  in  return. 


LOVE. 

Love  in  one  form  or  another  is  the  motive 
power  of  the  universe.  In  the  abstract,  it  is  the 
impelling  force  that  moves  men  and  nations  to 
labor  for  advancement — for  the  achievement  of 
ambitions — for  the  fulfillment  of  ideals.  Love 
reaches  beyond  desire,  and  yet  awakens  desire. 
It  blends  intellect  with  aspiration — the  mental 
with  the  spiritual — and  gives  the  incentive  to 
guard  and  prolong  life  in  order  that  one  may 
grasp  and  encompass  more  of  its  hallowed  and 
mystic  meaning.  It  is  universal,  as  the  very 
lowest  forms  of  life  evidence  its  controlling 
force. 

In  inanimate  life  we  see  the  plant  sending  its 
roots  down  to  secure  nourishment ;  and  then,  hav- 
ing converted  this  into  sustenance,  carry  upward 
to  assist  growth  in  the  sunlight.  It  reaches  for 
its  needs  to  give  full  expression  to  its  develop- 
ment and  beauty,  seeming  in  its  mute  way  to 
enjoy  itself  most  when  evidencing  vigorous  life. 
Is  not  this  law  of  nature  a  plant's  expression  of 
love — its  silent  purpose  to  attain  its  end  in  the 
mystery  of  unfolding?  If  these  indicate  love- 

31 


32  Man    Limitless. 

cravings  in  plant  life,  we  note  they  began  in  call- 
ing for  the  necessities  of  existence — these  sup- 
plied abundantly  gave  to  existence  vigor,  which 
led  to  the  unfolding  into  strength  and  beauty. 
Does  this  signify  that  love  and  life  ever,  even  in 
inanimate  nature,  constitute  a  dual  unity? 

In  animal  life  we  note  a  broader  development 
— it  extends  beyond  even  to  the  protecting  and 
caring  and  helping  of  its  own  kind.  It  reaches 
out  often  to  the  weak  and  suffering  through  al- 
most a  human  feeling;  and,  more  than  that,  it 
recognizes  the  expression  of  love  from  others 
and  rewards  by  showing  love  in  return. 

My  purpose,  however,  deals  with  the  human, 
and  is  to  learn,  if  one  may,  something  of  the 
creative  power  of  love  and  its  part  in  aiding  to 
the  attainment  of  ideals — to  the  upliftment  of 
man. 

Emerson  made  it  one  of  his  subjects  for  essay, 
but  he  wrote  only  from  the  human  point  of  view 
as  seen  through  sex  affinities.  This  field  of  emo- 
tion, vast  as  it  is,  is  but  the  reflection  of  one 
phase  of  the  power  of  love.  To  know,  to  com- 
prehend the  vastness  of  love,  its  mystic  force, 
its  far-reaching  attractive  power  over  man,  in 
directing,  guiding  and  sustaining  him  through 
the  labyrinths  of  life's  experiences,  would  be  to 
pierce  the  secret  of  existence,  to  solve  the  prob- 


Love.  33 

lem  of  human  purpose,  and  to  grasp  all  the  possi- 
bilities of  ultimate  man. 

My  studies  in  psychology,  philosophy  and 
occultism,  regarding  the  unfolding  of  the  human, 
have  led  to  many  experiments,  proving  the  at- 
tractive power  of  Love  to  bring  one  his  desires, 
hence  I  select  this  for  a  theme  as  I  feel  it  has 
been  proven  to  be  the  secret  force  of  the  Uni- 
versal— the  light  on  the  path  to  the  attainment 
of  every  longing  of  the  human  heart. 

From  the  earliest  dawn  of  intelligence  in  hu- 
manity— from  the  time  the  child  commences  to 
group  ideas  together,  so  as  to  form  a  thought, 
he  faces  two  opposing  factors  or  propositions. 
Right  and  wrong,  light  and  darkness,  truth  and 
falsehood,  honor  and  shame,  success  and  failure, 
love  and  hate.  With  wider  experience  in  life, 
he  finds  these  contrasts  to  multiply  till  they  reach 
myriads,  one  word  signifying  the  end  desired,  the 
other  its  opposite.  Youth,  however,  is  an  opti- 
mist. It  is  the  experienced  one  who  suggests  the 
danger,  and  brings  to  youth's  consciousness  the 
possibilities  and  probabilities  of  defeat.  Does 
this  suggestion  of  the  elder — well-meant  though 
it  be — help  or  retard  development?  Who  is 
nearer  God,  the  Source,  and  who  can  catch 
most  intelligently  the  whispers  of  Infinity — 
youth  or  manhood  ?  Experience  is  our  grandest 


34  Man    Limitless. 

school,  but  Father  Time  only  gives  the  lessons, 
leaving  us  to  draw  conclusions.  How  often  have 
we  failed  to  draw  them  right!  I  have  heard 
able  men  who  have  won  great  successes  say  that 
their  judgment  did  not  lead  to  these.  They  had 
won,  they  declared,  where  least  they  expected  it 
— their  judgment  had  erred,  coupling  with  it  all 
their  experience,  more  than  half  the  time. 
Youth,  acting  from  desire,  love,  impulse,  is  right 
in  so  doing,  perhaps  about  half  the  time.  Is 
there  a  philosophy  that  can  help  to  guide  so  that 
one  can  direct  effort  that  no  energy  be  wasted 
and  the  prize  be  won  ?  Unhesitatingly  I  answer 
this  question  in  the  affirmative,  but  one  cannot 
master  the  philosophy  without  discipline.  Then, 
too,  he  must  be  true  to  himself.  If  he  learns 
some  of  the  affirmations  of  the  glorious  Optimism 
of  the  age,  and  calls  them  his  belief,  his  creed,  he 
is  not  yet  so  firmly  entrenched  in  the  philosophy 
as  to  receive  its  full  measure  of  benefit.  Doubts 
will  come  to  all  who  have  gone  only  so  far  as  to 
say  "I  believe!"  Faith  founded  on  belief  will 
often  waver.  Let  us  be  honest  with  ourselves 
and  convert  belief  into  knowledge  by  proofs. 
Until  we  do  this  we  are  only  weak  followers  of 
those  who  know.  Carlyle  says:  "Properly  speak- 
ing, there  is  no  other  knowledge  but  that  which 
is  got  by  working;  the  rect  is  all  hypothesis  of 


Love.  35 

knowledge;  a  thing  to  be  argued  of  in  the 
schools ;  a  thing  floating  in  the  clouds,  in  endless 
logic- vortices,  till  we  try  and  fix  it." 

In  considering  the  conservation  of  force  in  the 
human,  and  the  directing  of  it  to  the  ends  de- 
sired, my  purpose  herein  is  to  inquire  how  pow- 
erful a  factor  is  comprised  in  the  magnetic  one 
called  Love.  Love  is  only  indomitable  when  it 
holds  supreme  control — it  holds  supreme  control 
when  it  fills  our  minds  so  completely  that  there 
is  no  room  for  hate,  or  doubt.  Such  love  is  so 
strong  and  absolute  that  it  will  enter  into  no 
compromise  or  bargain.  There  can  be  nothing 
commercial  in  its  nature.  It  does  not  offer  to 
give  with  any  proviso  as  to  receiving  in  return. 
Some  examples  will  serve  to  make  this  clear. 

Joan  of  Arc  heard  strange  voices  calling  her 
to  action  and  advising  how  she  could  perform  a 
service  for  France  and  honor  her  beloved  king. 
There  was  no  question  in  her  mind  of  worthiness 
or  unworthiness  of  the  king — in  her  simple  way 
she  almost  reverenced  him.  Did  this  most  un- 
selfish and  most  magnanimous  love  of  that  poor, 
unschooled  shepherdess  open  the  pathway  to  in- 
finite force  and  bring  its  messengers  in  touch 
with  her,  so  that  by  their  magnetic  power  a 
shepherdess  was  evolved,  mentality  recreated, 
into  a  warrior-leader,  whose  presence  on  the  bat- 


36  Man   Limitless. 

tie-field  assured  victory  and  the  glory  of 
France?  My  purpose  here  is  not  to  follow  the 
pressure  brought  upon  her  to  continue  in  service 
after  the  victory  of  Orleans.  Her  special  work, 
under  absolute  spirit  guidance,  seems  to  have 
been  comprised  in  that  one  act.  Then  she  wished 
to  retire — her  intuitions  told  her  that  she  had 
accomplished  the  best  she  could  for  the  king 
and  for  France.  The  voices  did  not  urge  her  to 
further  deeds  of  valor.  Fear  rose  in  her  heart. 
Love  had  won  its  purpose ;  and  she  without  the 
attendant  spirit  force  was  a  simple  country  maid 
again,  with  all  the  doubts  and  fears  and  tender- 
ness of  woman-kind  in  peasant  life. 

The  first  question  propounded  by  the  cautious 
investigator  of  power  claimed  to  be  received 
from  the  Universal,  or  from  spirit  forces  that 
may  be  of,  or  may,  as  parts  of  a  great  whole,  be 
the  instruments  to  convey  power  from  the 
Source  to  man  is,  why  this  or  that  particular  in- 
dividual is  or  was  selected  for  that  particular 
work.  My  investigations  are  fast  bringing  me  to 
a  point  where  this  question  seems  most  weak  and 
puerile.  As  I  study  human  growth,  I  find  man 
himself,  consciously  or  subconsciously,  opens  the 
way  to  receive  this  aid.  The  infinite  force,  God 
himself,  if  you  prefer  to  use  that  word,  does  not 
make  the  selection.  Man  creates  his  own  God 


Love.  37 

and  his  own  devil — his  own  environment  and  his 
own  limitlessness.  Desire,  lifted  into  intense 
longing,  and  that  crystallized  into  absolute  and 
unquenchable  Love,  is  the  magnetic  force  that 
brings  to  one's  aid  what  some  term  the  spirits 
of  mortals  who  once  dwelt  here  and  who  form  a 
helping  band  on  the  other  side,  what  others  call 
the  infinite  vibrative  force  of  heaven,  and  what 
others  more  orthodox  call  God. 

Joan  of  Arc  among  her  herd  in  the  fields,  felt 
pained  that  a  foreign  nation  was  crushing  out  of 
existence  her  native  land.  To  her  simple  mind, 
this  was  outrageous  robbery.  Her  king  was  also 
to  her  the  God  of  France.  In  the  ancient  re- 
ligion that  bound  her,  there  was  a  love  and  rev- 
erence for  altars,  relics  and  saints.  She  did  not 
know  her  king,  and  but  crudely  her  country; 
yet,  she  loved  them  both.  With  disaster  and 
war,  this  love  was  intensified,  and  grew  to  a  de- 
sire to  be  of  service  to  both  king  and  country. 
She  was  without  ambition,  so  love  could  vibrate 
only  the  single  throbbings  of  unselfish  devotion. 
This,  I  argue,  was  the  attractive  force  she  sent 
out  to  the  spirit  realm.  The  task  of  that  spirit 
band  was  no  light  one.  They  must  make  their 
presence  known  by  developing  in  her  clairaudi- 
ence  and  clairvoyance,  for  only  through  these 
could  she  be  told  that  her  prayer  was  answered. 


38  Man    Limitless. 

Consciously  she  was  made  to  feel,  by  degrees, 
the  task  she  was  to  perform  by  aid  of  spirit 
forces,  though  the  responsibilities  attending  its 
accomplishment  her  wildest  imagination  could 
never  have  conceived. 

May  it  not  be  true  that  over  and  over  again 
one  has  cherished  an  intense  desire  that  broad- 
ened into  love  and  sent  out  the  attractive  force 
to  compass  and  draw  this  infinite  power  to  him, 
when  came  with  it  hints  of  the  responsibilities  to 
be  assumed  in  the  undertaking,  and  he  has  paled 
at  thought  of  carrying  them,  thereby  causing 
fear  to  arrest  progress  and  defeat  the  success 
half- won?  I  have  argued  over  and  over  again 
with  people  who  have  declared  that  they  put 
their  best  thought  and  their  best  efforts  in  an  act 
to  attain  a  desire  and  failed  in  the  accomplish- 
ing. Under  close  questioning,  I  have  found  that 
their  desire  was  born  mingled  with  doubt,  or 
that  the  responsibilities  attendant  on  its  attain- 
ment had  given  fear  a  lodgment  in  thought, 
thereby  creating  auto-opposition.  One  must 
realize  that  within  his  own  thought  is  the  force 
that  carries  him  to  success,  as  well  as  the  oppos- 
ing factor  that  may  turn  even  success  half -won 
into  failure.  On  himself  alone  rests  all  the  re- 
sponsibility. As  old  as  that  semi-mythical  tale 
of  the  fall  of  man  from  paradise,  is  the  human 


Love.  39 

desire  to  throw  the  responsibility  of  one's  blun- 
ders, short-comings,  and  failures  on  others.  I 
have  had  men  in  positions  of  trust  in  large  com- 
panies quick  to  ascribe  the  cause  of  failure  to 
subordinates,  for  whose  ability  and  acts  they 
themselves  were  solely  accountable.  The  average 
man  seems  to  be  ready  to  receive  all  praises  given 
to  the  department  over  which  he  presides;  but 
when  criticism  comes,  he  starts  on  expeditions  of 
discovery  that  should  have  been  made  long  be- 
fore, to  find  if  he  may,  blunders  in  the  work  of 
his  assistants  in  order  that  he  may  throw  the 
censure  on  them. 

If  one  would  go  in  the  silence,  and  commune 
there  alone  with  himself,  look  soberly  over  his 
own  innate  desires  and  the  volume  of  work  be- 
tween him  and  their  attainment,  and  resolve 
that  that  is  worth  all  the  work  embodying  sacri- 
fice of  countless  pleasures,  as  it  may,  then  steady 
devotion  with  singleness  of  purpose  will  lead 
absolutely  to  victory.  To  overcome  auto-opposi- 
tion, the  fears  and  doubts  that  arise  in  one's 
thoughts  after  resolves  have  been  made  and  the 
work  commenced,  is  the  problem  love  has  solved. 
Love  for  the  attainment  of  the  end  that  brings 
good  to  others,  or  advancement  to  man  generally, 
is  sufficiently  disinterested  and  broad,  even 
though  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  may 


40  Man    Limitless. 

mean  pride,  honor  and  glory  to  himself.  Love 
is  so  potent  when  it  rises  supreme  that  doubts 
and  fears  are  dispelled  by  its  radiance ;  and  love 
will  rise  supreme  if  the  resolve  is  born  of  desire, 
and  that  recognized  as  the  whisper  of  divinity 
within  one's  own  selfhood.  He  who  reaches  this 
plane  is  lifted  to  it  by  love,  and  the  Chinese  de- 
clare, "The  virtuous  prince  confronts  the  gods 
without  any  misgivings,  and  he  who  confronts 
the  gods  without  any  misgivings  knows  heaven. ' ' 
Coleridge,  in  one  of  his  poems,  touches  upon 
the  mystic  power  of  love  most  happily  in: 

"Where  true  Love  burns,  Desire  is  Love's  pure 

flame; 

It  is  the  reflex  of  our  earthly  frame, 
That  takes  the  meaning  from  the  nobler  part, 
And  but  translates  the  language  of  the  heart." 

In  the  daily  round  of  the  petty  duties  of  life, 
our  attention  is  continually  being  arrested  by 
those  who  show  love  for  their  work,  be  it  what  it 
may.  Whether  that  love  was  cultivated,  or  grew 
out  of  simply  undertaking  the  tasks  willingly, 
need  not  be  questioned.  They  who  so  work  are 
working  on  the  right  plane  to  reach  success,  be  it 
great  or  small.  When  one  brings  comfort  or 
happiness  to  another  by  doing  what  is  regarded 


Love.  41 

BS  arduous  work,  and  is  so  filled  with  the  feeling 
inspired  in  that  other's  breast  that  he  rejoices  in 
the  work  and  loses  sight  of  its  arduousness,  then 
has  love  shown  itself  triumphant.  Over  and 
over  again  we  have  passed  through  or  passed 
near  such  experiences.  Touching  as  they  did 
upon  the  ordinary  in  daily  life,  we  have  given 
them  hardly  a  passing  thought.  These  incidents 
suggest  the  power  of  love  in  every  avenue  of  life. 
When  love  rises  back  of  and  is  bound  up  with  a 
noble  desire — completely  entwined  therein,  so  it 
cannot  be  dethroned — then,  one  marches  for- 
ward to  victory,  and  his  whole  pathway  is  lumi- 
nous with  light. 

Men  like  George  Peabody  have  toiled  for 
wealth,  happy  in  performing  their  duties  to  gain 
it  and  continued  steadfast  therein,  after  accumu- 
lating enough  to  assure  them  abundant  supply 
for  themselves  and  their  families,  far  beyond  the 
demands  of  most  extravagant  and  luxurious  liv- 
ing, and  this  for  the  sole  purpose  of  gaining 
more  to  give  to  others.  The  joy  in  being  able 
to  carry  out  great  schemes  bringing  charity  to 
and  education  for  the  masses  filled  their  beings. 
Love  then  stood  behind  effort,  and  toil  was 
robbed  of  even  the  suggestion  of  drudgery. 
More  than  this,  love's  attractive  force  so  per- 
vaded and  surrounded  the  toiler  whose  work 


42  Man    Limitless. 

was  to  bless  coming  generations  that  it  brought 
around  him  a  spirit  band  of  mighty  power  that 
worked  for  him,  speaking  to  his  consciousness, 
and  pointing  out  successful  investments  through 
the  subtle  monitor  of  intuition.  The  purpose  of 
supreme  intelligence  is  upliftment  to  all.  He 
who  labors  to  uplift  the  masses  calls  the  cohorts 
of  Infinity  to  his  aid  because  he  blends  his  per- 
sonality with  the  Universal,  and  the  refrain  of 
the  Universal  is  now  and  ever,  "Onward." 

Love  in  the  human  is  a  growth  that  must  be 
daintily  nourished.  It  is  timid  in  that  it  waits 
to  be  sought — it  is  powerful  when  once  one  fully 
possesses  it  or  is  possessed  by  it.  It  recognizes 
no  foe,  and  yet  overcomes  opposition  by  its  at- 
tractive force.  It  dignifies  work,  for  work  with- 
in its  scope  is  delight.  It  joys  in  giving,  for 
its  province  is  to  scatter  blessings;  and  it  lifts 
man  to  a  realization  of  his  oneness  with  infinite 
power. 


' '  Through  days  and  dreams  I  seem  to  walk  with 

one  whose  feet  must  shun 
Henceforth,  the  paths  of  earth;  for  whom  the 

sun 

Rises  in  unknown  realms  I  cannot  trace; 
And  still  there  is  home  no  vacant  place. 
Before  me  comes  upon  the  air  her  face. 
In  the  deep,  luminous  and  wondering  eyes 
I  read  the  rapture  of  a  glad  surprise; 
A  tender  hand  is  clasped  within  my  own, 
And  on  the  air  there  still  vibrates  her  tone." 
— Lillian  Whiting  in  "From  Dreamland  Sent.'9 


The  spirit  speaks  in  dreams — in  fond  desire — 
in  roseate  hope.  That  dream,  that  desire,  that 
hope  is  spirit's  breathing  of  God's  message,  tell- 
ing you  what  may  be  yours  if  you  will.  Trust 
the  spirit. 


THE  CHRIST  PRINCIPLE  THROUGH  IN- 
TUITION. 

It  is  now  over  nineteen  hundred  years  since 
the  dial  of  time  was  stopped,  and  the  year 
marked  one.  A  volume  of  history  was  then 
closed — a  new  volume  opened.  This,  not  a  his- 
tory of  wars  and  conflicts,  but  a  history  of  the 
growth  of  man's  consciousness.  Intelligence, 
even  at  that  time,  had  risen,  lifting  man  to  a 
higher  plane  and  teaching  him  something  of  the 
unseen  force  on  which  he  might  draw.  A  life 
then  was  ushered  into  expression  whose  deeds 
were  carried  on  the  tablets  of  memory  for  years 
and  years,  and  handed  down  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another,  before  the  need  of  a  record  was 
felt.  Centuries  passed  before  that  record  came 
into  permanent  form,  even  to  the  few — the 
learned.  And  yet  that  advent  of  a  life  was 
potent  enough  to  make  a  division  on  the  calendar 
of  time,  to  be  recognized  later  in  every  business 
transaction  among  the  foremost  nations  of  this 
planet. 

The  story  of  the  Galilean  Fisherman's  King 
came  to  us  indirectly  through  the  Greeks — they 

45 


46  Man    Limitless. 

were  a  highly  romantic  and  imaginative  people, 
and  when  their  poetry  reached  its  most  heroic 
heights,  there  was  a  union  of  mortals  with  im- 
mortals, thus  producing  a  race  possessed  of 
magic  force  and  power.  It  is  not  strange  that, 
coming  through  this  channel,  a  veil  of  mystery 
which  has  dimmed  perfect  perception  was 
thrown  over  the  record.  To-day,  as  we  read  the 
story  of  that  life  in  the  form  we  have  re- 
ceived it,  we  still,  like  those  who  followed  him, 
are  questioning  the  wonderful  meaning  there 
shadowed.  An  historical  record,  colored  with 
the  lively  tints  that  dart  from  Eastern  imagery, 
and  mingled  with  intuitional  truths  received 
from  those  mystic  vibrations  from  infinite  mind, 
is  a  record  that  confounds  the  logician,  startles 
the  thoughtful,  and  amazes,  at  times,  even  him 
who  has  attuned  his  soul  to  the  vibrations  of  the 
force  energy  of  the  universe. 

Think  a  moment — does  not  the  record  plainly 
show  that  the  repeated  assertion  of  Jesus  of  "I 
and  the  Father  are  One"  was  never  compre- 
hended by  his  own  disciples  ?  And  what  to  them 
was  "Greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do?" 
The  disciples  never  did  greater  works  than  he — 
or,  if  so,  the  record  fails  to  show  them.  Whom  does 
"ye"  refer  to,  then?  Clearly  to  those  to  come 
after — to  you  and  me — to  all  who  live  to-day. 


The  Christ  Principle.  47 

I  do  not  want  to  call  forth  opposition ;  but,  as  I 
understand  spiritual  growth,  it  has  taken  nearly 
nineteen  hundred  years  to  bring  forth  a  mental- 
ity on  this  planet  whose  unfoldment  would  per- 
mit the  understanding  and  appreciating  of  the 
real  teachings  of  Jesus — the  Illumined.  A  new 
era  of  time  is  approaching,  and  man  is  finding 
his  divine  selfhood.  Laotze,  in  China,  twenty- 
five  hundred  years  ago,  dreamed  of  this  truth — 
Plato  guessed  at  it  and  guessed  well — Jesus 
knew  it  and  taught  it.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
record  coming  to  us  through  the  Eastern  and 
Greek  philosophers  was  not  understood.  The 
record  taught  human  birth  to  rise  from  sin  and 
branded  innocent  childhood  with  horrible  stains. 
A  mythical  story  was  invented  to  save  the  per- 
sonality of  Jesus  from  the  stain,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  philosophers  for  centuries  have 
not  separated  the  incarnate — the  immaculate 
Christ  principle  from  the  personal  Jesus  who 
taught  them. 

To  know  the  Christ  principle,  let  us  turn  to 
the  intuitional  side  and  study  the  record.  Let  us 
recognize  the  Adam  life  and  its  real  meaning — 
let  us  travel  over  the  road  or  climb  the  heights, 
from  the  physical  being  typified  by  Adam,  to  the 
Christ  life  waiting  expression  within  every 
breathing  mortal,  and  typified  by  Jesus. 


48  Man    Limitless. 

There  is  no  metaphysical  student  to-day  who 
questions  the  absolute  permanency  of  soul  life. 
It  is  without  beginning  and  without  end.  Its 
first  entrance  into  matter,  giving  form  to  indi- 
vidual entity,  is  exemplified  by  the  Adam  life 
or  age.  The  earliest  intelligence  was  to  recog- 
nize and  use  the  physical  entity.  The  Infinite 
energy  of  the  Universe  as  I  reach  it  intuition- 
ally,  was  first  directed  to  teach  man  the  use  of 
flesh  and  bone  and  muscle  and  nerves,  to  serve 
his  purpose  in  the  physical  economy  of  living. 
This  Adam  age,  then,  represents  the  child  life  of 
humanity.  During  the  first  years  of  the  life  of 
a  child,  the  only  mental  instruction  offered  is 
that  of  the  power  of  the  mind  over  the  physical. 
To  move  this  physical  entity  as  one  would — to 
make  it  obey  the  will — were  and  are  the  pre- 
liminary requirements  to  make  it  obtain  mental 
mastery  over  the  unreal  or  material  selfhood. 
Though  the  mind  here  is  the  directing  force, 
early  intelligence  erroneously  gave  matter  a 
power  it  does  not  possess  and  so  made  it  an  op- 
posing factor  in  man's  unfolding.  Back  in  the 
earliest  human  life  on  this  planet  the  conflict 
between  mind  and  matter  began.  Opposing 
forces  were  recognized  in  the  human  entity  and 
the  strife  has  been  waged  for  thousands  of  years 
in  ignorance.  The  Adam  age  was  misinterpreted 


The  Christ  Principle.  49 

— it  did  not  mean  the  commencement  of  soul 
life.  Where  there  is  a  beginning  there  must  be 
an  ending.  Then,  soul  first  infused  itself  into 
material  form:  that  is  all.  I  take  it  that  the 
soul,  prior  to  that  time  being  free  as  thought, 
found  itself  seemingly  restrained.  It  fought 
against  its  seeming  fetters,  though  they  were  of 
its  own  forging.  Mind  everywhere  existent,  fill- 
ing all  space  but  occupying  none — observed  that 
the  new  creation  (matter)  attracted  its  like  to  it- 
self, and  that  it  filled  and  crowded  space.  Did 
this  observation  give  rise  to  conflict,  creative  of 
fear?  Who  shall  answer?  Surely  the  require- 
ments of  materiality  could  not  have  received 
attention  till  they  became  known.  For  the  soul 
to  adapt  itself  to  new  conditions,  the  laws  of 
harmony,  not  between  soul  and  matter,  but  of 
soul  encased  therein  and  vibrative  force,  were  to 
be  learned.  The  lesson  has  been  only  partly 
learned,  and  a  compromise  has  patched  up  a 
peace. 

Childhood  passed,  we  reach  early  youth,  and 
here  we  find  the  Moses  age.  Some  rules  must 
be  accepted  as  the  basis  of  right  action.  The 
Moses  age  presented  them  under  the  form  of 
the  ten  commandments.  They  taught  the  prop- 
erty rights  of  each,  the  sacredness  of  life,  the 


50  Man    Limitless. 

relationship  of  parents  and  children,  and  gave 
society  a  moral  code. 

In  the  development  of  man,  the  David  age 
succeeds  the  Moses  age.  David  recognized  the 
relationship  of  families  and  communities  to  each 
other.  He  sang  of  the  overthrow  of  enemies  and 
the  victorious  triumph  of  friends.  Another  step 
in  unf oldment  was  taken.  From  the  family  idea 
rose  the  community  idea — the  centralization  for 
general  protection  and  benefit.  Out  of  this  grew 
the  national  idea  and  all  it  stands  for.  Its  ex- 
pression awoke  new  zeal  in  man  and  gave  to 
language  the  magic  word  we  call  in  English, 
patriotism.  Youth  catches  its  meaning  and 
greedily  devours  the  warlike  stories  of  heroism 
on  the  battle  field.  The  uplifting,  as  one  will 
note,  so  far  had  been  practically  on  material 
lines.  The  boy  now  stands  firm,  he  is  seeking 
mental  light — he  is  reaching  beyond  the  environ- 
ment of  physical  sense. 

The  next  plane  attained  is  the  intuitional — 
it  may  be  named  the  Isaiah  plane  or  age.  A 
discovery  had  been  made — man  mentally  may 
draw  power  from  the  unseen — he  may  even  be 
guided  from  a  source  beyond  that  of  conscious 
reasoning.  Light  had  come  from  within — man 
does  not  walk  alone.  A  spiritual  relationship 
with  a  force  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 


The  Christ  Principle.  51' 

sense  plane  was  revealed.  The  horizon  of  mental 
vision  was  lifted,  and  all  its  boundary  lines  were 
fading. 

"What  is  it?     And  whither,  whence, 
This  unsleeping,  secret  sense, 
Longing  for  its  rest  and  food 
In  some  broader,  untried  good? 
'Tis  the  soul — mysterious  name, 
Him  it  seeks  from  whence  it  came; 
While  I  muse,  I  feel  the  fire 
Burning  on,  and  mounting  higher. 
Onward,  upward  to  thy  throne, 
O,  thou  Infinite,  unknown — 
Still  it  presseth,  till  it  see 
Thee  in  all,  and  all  in  thee." 

Through  the  intuitional,  whose  limits  are  as 
boundless  as  thought's  realm  of  imagery,  comes 
the  realization  of  the  Christ  principle  in  man. 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  opened  wide  the  door,  and 
lo!  on  the  threshold  stood  Jesus,  as  the  perfect 
embodiment  of  the  Christ  principle,  bringing  to 
mankind  the  proofs  of  the  divine  within  the 
human.  In  every  life  to-day,  these  successive 
stages  are  noted.  One  may  pass  through  each 
and  every  till  the  Jesus  age  of  spirit  illumina- 
tion is  reached  during  the  time  of  twenty  years 


52  Man    Limitless. 

from  birth.  The  ages  that  marked  the  uplifting 
of  man  to  a  true  comprehension  of  self  have 
brought  him  to  such  an  unfoldment  that  he  may 
pass  through  them  all  and  reach  the  highest 
within  the  usual  term  required  to  complete  the 
growth  of  the  physical  body.  You  will  please 
note,  by  way  of  condensation,  that  I,  writing 
from  the  intuitional  plane,  regard  the  Adam  age 
as  representing  the  infancy  of  the  child,  extend- 
ing, perhaps,  until  the  child  is  five  or  six  years 
of  age.  Perhaps  a  little  before  that  he  has  to 
be  taught  something  about  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty. The  play-things  that  belong  to  another  do 
not  belong  to  him;  and  even  before  he  has 
reached  the  age  of  five  he  usually  learns  that  he 
must  respect  his  parents'  authority.  The  Moses 
age,  therefore,  blends  in  the  Adam  age,  but  be- 
gins to  fashion  itself  more  firmly  at  about  the 
age  of  five  or  six  and  from  then  onward.  A  little 
later,  possibly  before  the  child  reaches  ten,  if 
he  lives  in  America  at  least,  he  is  shouting 
"hurrah"  for  the  Fourth  of  July.  He  does  not 
understand  the  science  of  the  government  of  his 
own  country,  but  he  has  some  joy  in  being  an 
American.  In  short,  the  idea  of  the  David  age 
is  dawning  upon  him  and  he  recognizes  the 
household  authority — the  laws  of  the  village  and 
the  parks — but  he  soars  to  something  a  little 


The  Christ  Principle.  53 

higher,  vaguely  glories  over  his  country's  flag, 
and  is  learning  something  of  the  national  idea 
as  well.  All  this  is  comprised  in  the  David  age. 
About  fourteen,  possibly  younger,  a  restless 
thinking  begins  to  find  lodgment  in  his  breast. 
That  thinking  reaches  beyond  his  physical  en- 
vironment— possibly  he  listens  to  songs  when  in 
the  church  and  sermons  preached  there  with  a 
new  zest.  God  and  Heaven  and  Hell  signify  cer- 
tain unknowns  to  him  and  he  finds  a  craving  in 
his  heart  to  know  more  of  them.  This  represents 
the  dawn  of  the  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  age.  In 
short,  the  intuitional,  which  is  born  of  vibrative 
harmony,  whose  melodies  all  of  us  have  heapd  but 
never  fully  analyzed,  has  reached  consciousness. 
He  finds  himself  mentally  inquiring  to  learn  his 
place  in  the  great  Cosmos.  In  short,  the  Christ 
principle  within  him  is  speaking  and  telling  of 
its  existence.  It  is  opening  his  understanding 
to  a  comprehension  of  the  great  Oneness  of  all 
life.  The  throbbings  born  of  the  intuitional  are 
very  active  in  the  young  person  passing  through 
his  teens.  At  reaching  the  age  of  twenty  he  has 
either  made  some  acquaintance  with  the  spiritual 
selfhood  asserting  itself  within  him  or  he  has 
become  for  the  time  being  insensible  to  its  vibra- 
tions. Though  this  may  be  the  case,  within  five, 
ten  or  twenty  years  it  may  assert  itself  again 


54  Man    Limitless. 

and  even  more  strongly;  because  the  soul  never 
forgets  its  fatherhood.  However,  during  the 
last  fifth  of  the  past  century  many  children  have 
been  born  who  have  been  named  by  theosophists 
and  astrologers  as  children  of  the  sixth  race  and 
give  evidence  of  the  psychic  powers  of  clair- 
voyance, clairaudience  and  the  most  subtle  intui- 
tion in  childhood,  at  the  earliest  age  of  intelli- 
gent expression  of  thought.  They  Avill  later,  I 
prophesy,  solve  mysteries  in  life's  mysticism 
that  will  appall  the  sage.  They  will  glean  the 
truth  from  nature's  unwritten  book  of  har- 
monies, whose  songs  will  reach  their  intelligences 
through  the  mental  sense  of  hearing,  responsive 
to  the  soft,  ceaseless,  rhythmic  vibrations  of  the 
unseeable  chords  of  the  mighty  universal  harp, 
touched  by  the  fingers  of  energy  moving  under 
the  direction  of  that  mighty  impersonality — the 
Imminent  God. 

In  my  hurried  review  of  the  growth  of  mental- 
ity to  a  plane  where  man  could  receive  and  com- 
prehend the  Christ  principle,  it  must  be  quite 
apparent  to  the  reader  that  few,  if  any,  were 
ready  to  receive  and  understand  it  when  Jesus 
proclaimed  it.  Why?  How  simple  the  answer 
when  we  study  the  Christ  principle  on  .the  only 
plane  on  which  it  can  be  comprehended — the  in- 
tuitional. The  Isaiah  age  had  come,  but  mate- 


The  Christ  Principle.  55 

rial  fetters  bound  human  thought,  and  minds 
were  thereby  imprisoned,  so  that  few  intelli- 
gences could  receive  the  vibrations  of  truth  from 
the  Infinite  with  which  Jesus  was  consciously 
responsive.  The  spiritual  light  then  threw  its 
lustre  over  the  few — those  few  are  always  found 
in  every  period  of  history,  and  always  were,  and 
always  are  among  the  workers  uplifting  man. 
The  hour  had  come  for  man  to  be  told  of  his 
spirit  relationship  to  the  great  force  energy  of 
the  universe,  in  order  that  he  might  come  into 
complete  harmony  with  himself,  and  know  his 
central  position  in  the  great  Cosmos.  The  Christ 
principle,  therefore,  was  not  disclosed  at  too 
early  an  age,  even  though  it  were  not  compre- 
hended. Some  of  the  possibilities  of  man  had  to 
be  disclosed  to  him,  as  history  has  proved,  hun- 
dreds and  hundreds  of  years  before  he  would 
unfold  so  as  to  grasp  even  those  which  now  seem 
to  us  to-day  most  patent  and  clear. 

Sectarianism  is  a  natural  outgrowth  of  inde- 
pendent thinking  too  easily  satisfied.  It  sepa- 
rates religious  societies  by  dogmas;  and  yet, 
throwing  dogmas  aside,  all  claim  to  be  working 
largely  to  the  same  end — the  advancement  of 
their  members  morally,  and  the  helping  of  the 
needy.  Dogmas  are  the  enclosures  that  separate 
the  Presbyterians  from  the  Methodists,  and  the 


56  Man    Limitless. 

Baptists  from  the  Lutherans,  and  so  on.  An- 
other circle  of  dogmas  holds  all  these  and  other 
sects  as  one,  and  it  is  named  Protestantism.  An- 
other and  still  wider  circle  takes  in  the  Roman 
Catholics  as  well,  and  calls  itself  Christian,  leav- 
ing the  Jews  only  outside.  In  short,  we  have 
circles  within  circles — angles  of  agreement  and 
angles  of  divergence.  These  various  sects  live, 
grow  and  flourish,  not  because  of  their  dogmas 
but  in  spite  of  them.  They  live  and  grow,  be- 
cause to  some  extent  they  are  moral  powers  in 
the  community.  All  they  have  done  for  the  edu- 
cation and  upliftment  of  the  masses,  they  have 
done  for  progress.  Many  of  them  have  grown 
somewhat  liberal  with  the  growth  of  mentality 
generally ;  but  now — at  this  period  of  history — 
a  thought  current  has  risen  that  will  bring  more 
than  liberality — it  will  bring  about,  it  seems  to 
me,  a  breaking  from  all  the  chains  of  error. 

I  will  not  here  attempt  an  analysis  of  this  or 
that  dogma,  distinguishing  one  sect  from  another 
— this  paper  has  another  purpose.  In  a  general 
way,  I  ask  my  readers  to  note  that  it  is  the  moral 
influence  of  the  various  sects  in  their  efforts  to 
teach  honesty  in  business  relations,  uprightness 
in  social  life,  and  charity  to  the  needy,  that  has 
given  them  their  power.  In  these  three  particu- 
lars, at  least,  all  the  sects  are  united,  and  to  these 


The  Christ  Principle.  57 

I  may  add  also  the  three  branches  of  the  Catholic 
Church — the  Eoman,  the  Anglican  and  the 
Greek;  and  even  the  Jews  come  forward  and 
say,  as  to  those  teachings,  we  are  working  in 
harmony  with  the  Christians.  "With  such  pur- 
poses as  these,  it  is  not  surprising  that  modern 
religion  has  been  popularized  to  the  masses  and 
become  formidable  and  powerful.  Often,  it  has 
opposed  scientific  progress,  because  the  light  of 
science  proved  a  dogma  erroneous.  In  some 
cases  the  church  fought  vigorously  for  its  pet 
dogma;  but  its  power,  though  often  retarding 
progress,  has  never  been  found  great  enough  to 
overcome  truth. 

There  is  one  dogma  only  to  which  I  will  refer 
and  that  is  a  broad  one,  for  on  it  rest  the  pil- 
lars that  sustain  the  entire  fabric  of  belief  of 
modern  Christianity.  Every  sect  or  church  call- 
ing itself  Christian  is  founded  upon  belief  in 
a  Jewish  institution  of  blood-sacrifices.  Now, 
the  origin  of  these  sacrifices  was  not  Jewish, 
it  was  Persian.  They  sprang  from  the  genius 
of  the  Aryan,  and  were,  therefore,  Zoroastrian 
— not  divine,  but  distinctly  human.  To  appease 
God,  that  the  sins  of  coming  generations,  as  well 
as  of  those  who  had  lived  in  the  past  and  so  be- 
lieved might  be  wiped  out,  human  blood  must 
be  shed.  ' '  Christ  died  for  our  sins, ' '  wrote  Paul. 


58  Man    Limitless. 

Through  all  Paul's  teachings  is  found  this  need 
of  the  sacrifice  of  human  blood  of  a  supremely 
spiritualized  and  innocent  man.  In  the  four 
gospels  these  teachings  are  not  found  except  in 
one  clause  in  the  26th  chapter  of  Matthew,  which 
is  plainly  an  interpolation  to  Judaize  this  gospel, 
as  it  was  the  only  one  that  was  circulated  freely 
among  the  Jews. 

So  much  for  the  history  of  blood-sacrifices 
upon  which  modern  Christianity  founds  its  doc- 
trine of  atonement.  I  will  go  no  further  here. 
I  recognize  that  many  of  my  readers  may  still 
accept  it  .as  the  foundation  of  their  faith — only 
half-believing  it  may  be,  yet  fearing  they  will 
plunge  themselves  into  chaos  by  letting  it  go.  I 
present  now  no  argument  against  it,  except  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  historically  it  de- 
scended from  old  religious  rites  and  ceremonies, 
which  the  Jews  borrowed  from  Persia. 

To  bring  forth  the  Christ  principle  within  us, 
we  must  free  our  minds  from  dogmas  and  pas- 
sively open  them  to  truth,  for  thus  do  we  develop 
our  spiritual  or  real  entities,  and  learn  to 
draw,  through  conscious  mind,  upon  the  inex- 
haustible resources  of  the  universe.  To  be  able 
to  draw  from  this  source,  one  must  be  spiritual. 
That  word  "spiritual"  has  been  abused  by  the 
ecclesiastic.  He  was  blinded  by  his  dogmas,  and 


The  Christ  Principle.  59 

so  we  must  not  censure  him.  To  be  spiritual 
means  to  him  primarily  the  entrance  into  mem- 
bership and  communion  with  the  church.  It 
means  more,  of  course,  but  this  is  the  preliminary 
step.  Next,  it  means  the  renouncing  of  pet  am- 
bitions— the  giving  up  of  ideals — in  a  word,  self 
sacrifice  here,  for  possible  joys  beyond  this  plane 
of  existence.  Some  would  add  other  require- 
ments. They  would  have  you,  particularly  if 
possessed  of  ample  means,  unite  yourself  with 
organizations  that  distribute  charity.  Another 
class  might  urge  you  to  join  the  Good  Govern- 
ment Club  as  an  aid,  and  so  on. 

To  be  spiritual — how  those  words  have  been 
abused !  Why  it  has  taken  nearly  nineteen  hun- 
dred years  for  people  generally  to  understand 
their  true  meaning.  The  spirit  speaks  in  dreams 
— in  fond  desire — in  roseate  hope.  That  dream, 
that  desire,  that  hope  is  spirit's  breathing  of 
God's  message  to  you,  telling  you  what  may  be 
yours,  if  you  will.  Trust  the  spirit.  It  will 
never  waken  you  to  desires  or  ambitions  that 
may  not  be  realized.  Trust  the  spirit — that  is 
being  spiritual.  Your  desires  are  your  good — 
your  good  is  your  God — believe  the  messages 
he  has  thus  telepathically  sent  your  conscious- 
ness. He  is  most  spiritual  who  lives  closest  to 
his  ideal. 


60  Man    Limitless. 

We  have  studied  the  record  too  seriously  from 
the  logical  side  and  from  the  dogma  side.  This 
has  misled  man.  The  Bible  has  lived  through 
all  these  thousands  and  thousands  of  years,  be- 
cause of  the  intuitional  truth  it  contains.  There 
is  much  there,  however,  that  is  not  inspiration. 
The  child  of  the  sixth  race  will,  early  upon  the 
opening  of  the  new  century,  I  prophesy,  point 
out  from  it  the  intuitional  truths  man  should 
recognize,  and  its  other  pages  will  cease  to  be 
read.  Inspiration  is  a  word  signifying  uplift- 
ment — everyone  may  feel  its  force  and  utter 
spirit  truths.  It  would  take  millions  of  volumes 
to  express  the  inspirations  felt  by  mankind  dur- 
ing a  single  year. 

In  India  the  simplest  layman  has  no  confused 
idea  as  to  the  meaning  of  being  spiritual;  and 
the  principal  reason  for  this  is  that  he  has  never 
looked  in  his  sacred  books  or  studied  any  dogma 
to  learn  of  it.  Let  him  belong  to  the  school  of 
the  Vedanta,  or  the  Jains — he  looks  within  for 
light.  The  books  cannot  teach  him  how  to  be 
spiritual — they  may  illustrate  it  somewhat,  but 
that  is  all.  His  discipline  brings  to  him  the  un- 
foldment  of  spiritual  consciousness.  He  reads 
his  sacred  books  for  joy. 

Not  separating,  in  our  daily  thought,  objective 


The  Christ  Principle.  61 

consciousness  from  subjective  consciousness  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  held  errone- 
ous ideas  as  to  the  Christ  principle.  We  were 
trying  to  place  it  somewhere  in  the  skies  instead 
of  in  our  hearts.  We  did  not  know  that  desire 
was  divine — we  did  not  know  it  was  a  promised 
blessing.  We  did  not  know  that  material  desire 
could  be  obtained  through  spirit  help.  To-day 
clairvoyance  is  recognized  by  philosophers  and 
scholars  as  a  gift  some  possess.  It  has  been 
called  by  some  a  sixth  sense,  but  really  this  sixth 
sense  includes  other  occult  gifts,  such  as  clair- 
audience  and  intuition.  It  may  be  a  little  later 
that  we  shall  find  these  gifts  are  senses  just  as 
real  as  any  of  the  five  senses  we  possess,  but 
senses  that  have  been  lost  by  man  through  non- 
use.  The  consideration  of  spirit  phenomena,  as 
seen  by  the  clairvoyant,  would  take  me  beyond 
the  limits  I  have  allowed  myself  in  this  article 
and  beyond  its  province. 

Buddha  taught  happiness  to  be  the  annihila- 
tion of  desire,  but  Jesus,  a  later  and  to  my  mind 
(recalling  the  evolution  of  man)  a  more  ad- 
vanced psychic,  taught  happiness  to  be  the  at- 
tainment of  desire.  We  are  to-day  believers  in 
and  followers  of  the  Galilean  who  taught  the 
oneness  of  man  and  God  in  purpose  and  power 
in  "I  and  the  Father  are  One." 


62  Man    Limitless. 

' '  What  would  ye  know  ?     To  silence  go, 
There  shall  ye  learn,  for  what  ye  yearn 
Is  but  the  portion  waiting  the  way — 
To  reach  you.     In  faith  then,  each  day, 
Seek  the  silence — rehearse  there  your  longing, 
To  your  aid  come  the  spirits,  not  singly,  but 

thronging, 
And  rejoicing  to  bring  all  the  blessings,  they 

sing, 
All  hail  to  thee,  praise  to  thee,  thou  art  the 

King." 

Each  of  us  wants  to  know  more  of  and  to  con- 
sciously possess  the  Christ  principle — the  in- 
carnate Christ  within.  The  way  to  its  pos- 
session begins  in  worthy  desire,  and  it  ends  in 
triumphant  faith.  The  path  between  the  two 
is  the  bridge  of  silence.  Let  us  seek  it — find  it — 
cross  it — and  fill  our  lives  with  joy. 


"We  see  the  whole  universe  is  working.  For 
what?  For  salvation,  for  liberty,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  from  the  atom  to  the  highest 
being ;  working  for  that  one  end,  liberty  for  the 
mind,  for  the  body,  for  the  spirit,  for  every- 
thing ;  always  trying  to  get  freedom,  flying  away 
from  the  bondage." — From  Karma  Yoga  of 
Swami  Vivekananda. 


Work  is  the  external  must  that  gives  expres- 
sion to  life,  and  happy  he  who  has  learned  to 
love  what  makes  life  possible  to  express  individ- 
uality. 


WORK. 

From  our  earliest  remembrance,  the  word 
work  was  made  to  signify  a  task  imposed  by 
force,  or  undertaken  through  duty  or  volition. 
Within  its  domain  were  toil  and  hardship.  Back 
in  the  ages,  we  were  told  a  command  had  been 
disobeyed,  and  the  edict  for  that  disobedience 
was  condemnation  to  the  prisonhouse  of  work. 
Rest  was  its  counterpart;  and  the  earliest 
dwellers  on  this  planet  found  the  complement 
of  life  encased  within  the  meanings  they  gave 
to  these  two  words — work  and  rest. 

In  the  evolution  of  man  came  the  develop- 
ment of  ideals;  and  work  was  given  a  higher 
meaning,  for  it  represented  the  path  to  the  cher- 
ished end.  Yet  its  earliest  signification  still 
hangs  like  a  pall  over  childhood  and  early  youth ; 
and  even  the  world's  great  toilers  too  often  only 
feel  in  it  its  early  meaning  of  thraldom.  Pleas- 
ure in  work  has  had  a  slow  growth.  It  began  to 
assert  itself  centuries  ago.  It  is  reserved  to  the 
twentieth  century,  however,  to  develop  mentality 
to  a  point  where  one  may  always  find  joy  in 
work.  Will  the  twentieth  century  fulfill  to  man 

6s 


66  Man    Limitless. 

this  mission  ?  Many  have  approached  that  plane 
— few,  if  any,  have  placed  themselves  absolutely 
upon  it. 

Were  one  to  contemplate  nature  as  it  unfolds 
itself  to  the  eye  in  the  speechless  life,  we  would 
observe  that  everywhere  is  ceaseless  action  in 
every  living  thing.  All  life  is  a  great  mystery 
of  throbbings  and  responses.  Roots  reach  down 
for  moisture — seeking  their  own — and  the  warm 
sunlight  draws  this  upward,  assisting  to  convert 
it  into  the  constituents  required  by  each  peculiar 
life  for  its  growth,  that  it  may  fulfill  its  destiny. 
Work  everywhere.  Not  a  command  of  infinite 
Being  that  man  must  obey  because  a  greater 
than  man  said — this  is  the  Law;  but  a  law  even 
infinite  Being,  Omniscience,  the  great  primeval 
atom,  the  fathomless  It,  (call  this  Intelligence, 
what  you  will)  as  well  as  all  living  entities,  must 
obey,  because  work  is  an  integral  part  of  life. 
Work  is  the  eternal  must  that  gives  expression 
to  life,  and  happy  he  who  has  learned  to  love 
what  makes  life  possible  to  express  individuality. 
Even  in  sleep,  the  subjective  self  assumes  control 
while  the  conscious  slumbers ;  and  the  heart  con- 
tinues its  beatings,  and  the  blood  is  sent  forward 
in  its  normal  channels,  assisting  each  organ  of 
the  body  to  perform  its  work,  in  accordance  with 
the  law  of  life.  Continued  pulsation,  ceaseless 


Work.  67 

vibration,  is  life's  refrain.  [We  cannot  escape 
from  it,  and  if  we  love  life  we  should  love  work. 
Even  he  who  claims  to  be  weary  of  work  is  sim- 
ply longing  to  turn  from  one  kind  to  another. 
Great  wealth  cannot  take  work  from  one,  for  it 
imposes  duties,  social  and  other,  in  spite  of  vol- 
untary wish.  Work  and  life  then  are  insepara- 
ble, bound  together  by  an  ineffaceable  decree 
— obey  and  live,  refuse  and  perish. 

If  it  be,  then,  that  existence  is  subject  to  this 
mighty  law,  let  us  seek  to  find,  not  merely  the 
grandeur  or  nobleness  in  work,  but  how  to  love 
it  always,  for  then  only  can  complete  happiness 
be  attainable  and  the  dream  of  the  soul  made  a 
reality. 

Love  is  a  word  of  wide  significance.  In  its 
scope  of  attractiveness  between  two  individuals, 
it  often  asserts  itself  spontaneously,  giving  all 
and  asking  nothing.  Its  endurance  in  such  cases, 
however,  depends  on  like  mutual  growths.  The 
consideration  of  this  is  outside  of  my  purpose, 
for  we  can  cultivate  love  for  work,  even  though 
it  may  often  be  a  question  if  we  can  love  one 
whom  we  may  will  to  love.  If  we  love  our 
ideals,  we  should  love  the  paths  to  their  attain- 
ment. If  we  would  win  our  ideals,  this  should 
not  be  a  forced  love.  Let  us  see  if  we  cannot 
overcome  the  errors  of  the  past,  and  discover 


68  Man    Limitless. 

within  our  selfhoods  the  dominant  stimuli  re- 
quired to  make  the  path  to  achievement  a  de- 
lightful, entrancing  road,  even  though  it  lead 
over  walls  and  precipices,  through  tangled 
woods  and  over  arid  deserts  to  the  sunlit,  peace- 
ful homes  in  the  land  of  purpose  fulfilled. 

In  the  earth's  earlier  civilizations,  the  neg- 
ativeness  of  law  formed  the  great  background 
of  the  nations'  decrees.  The  laws  did  not  set 
forth  what  the  citizen  or  subject  should  do — 
they  rather  assumed  he  knew  that,  and  that  he 
was  in  rebellion  by  nature ;  and  so,  the  edicts  of 
kings  and  sovereigns  and  rulers  were  expressed 
in  a  series  of  ' '  thou-shalt-nots. "  When  mental- 
ity, always  growing  or  evolving,  even  during 
those  thousand  years  of  medieval  darkness,  felt 
an  upreaching  and  sought  new  paths  of  useful- 
ness, life's  environment  prompted  the  seeker  to 
examine  the  law's  decrees  to  discover  if  there 
were  not  some  "shalt-nots"  barring  the  way. 
Those  ''shalt-nots"  sought  for  were  generally 
found,  and  so  to  grow  meant  independent  think- 
ing and  independent  work,  in  opposition  to  the 
negatives  rulers  had  made  to  check  the  ascent  of 
man.  Some  paled  when  they  discovered  these 
barriers ;  and  environment  so  cramped  their  un- 
derstandings that  rather  than  disobey  bad  laws, 
they  felt  it  duty  to  turn  back  to  Hoi  Polloi,  and 


Work.  69 

let  others  do  the  thinking.  And  so,  in  countless 
cases,  work  did  not  pale  these  aspirants — that 
they  were  willing  to  do — but  they  felt  they  could 
not  enter  upon  it  and  become  violators  of  the 
law. 

We  who  live  to-day  and  enjoy  the  civilization 
and  progress  of  which  we  are  part,  cannot  but 
feel,  as  we  look  through  history's  pages,  the 
great  debt  due  to  those  who  have  worked  against 
all  this  opposition  to  uplift  man.  We  are  the 
product  of  their  tireless  work  and  of  their  sacri- 
fices for  principle.  In  spite  of  all  this,  we  our- 
selves have  our  own  environments,  our  own  prej- 
udices, our  own  false  gods,  and  our  own  igno- 
rances. All  reformers  have  had  their  prejudices 
and  limitations.  Luther  placed  himself  firm  as 
a  rock  on  Hie  est  corpus  meum.  The  old  world 's 
greatest  and  wisest  statesmen  declared  that  a 
free  republic  and  corrupt  morals  were  always 
linked  together.  Through  our  literal  and  false 
interpretations  of  the  Bible,  sects  have  sprung 
up  that  are  a  menace  to  good  morals  and  good 
citizenship. 

Our  age,  grand  and  great  as  it  is,  is  not  free 
from  countless  errors.  Environment  still  rears 
high  her  prison-walls.  Prejudice,  often  used  as 
a  synonym  for  ignorance,  stands  sentinel  with- 
out its  gates.  Fear  of  power  within  one's  self 


70  Man    Limitless. 

to  break  through  them  is  the  canopy  overhead, 
hiding  out  the  sunlight  of  Truth.  And  the 
dreadful  dogma  of  some  ancient  creed  (errone- 
ously called  religion)  has  placed  its  blinding  fet- 
ters over  the  eyes  of  intelligence  so  that  Truth's 
rays  often  only  dazzle  and  pain. 

This  glance  backward  I  have  made;  because 
in  our  work  to-day  for  the  attainment  of  ideals, 
though  many  of  the  barriers  have  been  swept 
away,  we  must  recognize  that  a  new  civilization, 
a  new  religion,  a  new  conception  of  Truth,  have 
also,  with  the  blessings  they  bring,  reared  new 
barriers  to  intellectual  progress.  Everything 
that  endures  in  creed  and  civilization  does  so  be- 
cause it  possesses  some  truth.  It  should  not  re- 
ceive, therefore,  wholesale  condemnation — 
cherish  its  truth,  and  weed  out  its  errors.  I 
speak  for  upliftment  to  man's  possibilities;  and, 
recognizing  some  truth  in  each  and  every  of  the 
many  vagaries  called  philosophies,  I  hurl  at  them 
no  bolts  of  destruction.  Error  often  seems  to 
have  a  slow  death,  but  it  must  die.  Only  truth 
can  live.  Error  must  gradually  pass  to  oblivion 
as  man  unfolds.  It  is  of  the  negatives  of  life; 
and  the  denials  or  "nots"  of  existence  are  de- 
structive, not  constructive.  Upbuilding  follows 
right  thinking,  and  right  thinking  has  no  har- 
mony with  the  negatives  of  forbidding.  Our 


Work.  71 

problem  is  to  know  what  to  do,  not  what  we 
should  not  do.  I  study  the  lessons  given  child- 
hood with  pity  and  sympathy  for  children,  for 
their  lessons  each  begin  with  a  "don't."  Worse 
than  that,  each  "don't"  is  intensified  with  a 
penalty  following  it.  This,  at  least,  suggests  that 
there  may  be  something  delectable  in  doing  the 
thing  forbidden ;  and  the  price  to  be  paid  for  the 
doing  is  expressed  in  the  penalty.  Even  the 
"do"  that  follows  the  later  sections  of  the  les- 
sons is  linked  with  a  command  and  implies  some 
sacrifice  if  faithfully  observed.  Thus  we  see  the 
ancient  meaning  of  the  word  work — the  meaning 
before  man  had  evolved  to  ideality — still  clings 
to  us,  and  is  especially  manifest  in  our  training 
of  children.  AVe  begin  wrong.  Incentives  to 
right  action,  right  doing,  right  thinking,  can 
never  be  stimulated  by  centering  instruction  on 
pointing  out  the  forbidden  ways  and  lines. 

Out  of  this  false  training,  one  might  conclude 
that  to  follow  and  pursue  right  action  and 
duty  was  contrary  to  desire,  and,  therefore, 
burdensome  and  full  of  self-sacrifice.  The  battle 
of  mentality  was  to  force  action  on  lines  or  paths 
that  appeared  to  be  and  were  called  uninviting 
and  uninteresting.  Why,  it  is  only  within  the 
last  thirty  years  that  we  began  to  allow  election 
in  studies  to  be  offered  for  the  degree  of  Bach- 


72  Man    Limitless. 

elor  of  Arts ;  and  only  within  the  last  ten  or  fif- 
teen years  that  we  have  learned  that  this  elec- 
tion has  brought  about  a  higher  standard  for 
admission  to  college,  a  higher  rank  in  college  and 
a  higher  average  range  of  scholarship  among  our 
college  graduates.  By  that,  we  opened  the  way 
for  the  student  to  recognize  joy  in  work.  The 
work  now  is  substantially  on  lines  selected — to 
do  this  means  steps  upward  to  mental  heights 
longed  for  and  desired.  It  is  right  action  on  pos- 
itive lines,  where  not  even  a  vista  of  a  negative 
can  appear.  More  and  more  wisdom  is  being 
shown  by  educators,  appreciating  the  benefits 
this  elective  system  has  brought  about,  and  even 
greater  and  better  results  will  follow,  directly 
and  indirectly,  these  truer  methods  of  mental 
training. 

Could  we  go  back  to  early  childhood  and  start 
training  with  suggestions  of  what  to  do,  and  fill 
the  child-mind  with  these,  every  lesson  would 
prompt  to  advancement.  Could  we  leave  out  en- 
tirely the  forbidden,  every  lesson  would  point 
to  action  progressive  and  constructive.  The  for- 
bidden ways,  coupled  with  penalties  if  pursued, 
thrust  upon  consciousness  a  choice ;  and  the  fact 
of  penalties  rather  suggests  there  must  be  delight 
in  following  these  ways,  that  will  compensate 
even  if  one  is  forced  to  pay  the  affixed  charges. 


Work.  73 

The  child-mind,  seeing  delight  in  the  forbidden, 
does  not  recognize  the  work  in  those  paths  as 
wearisome ;  but  work  in  the  line  of  duty  or  com- 
mand becomes  drudgery,  because  of  the  fascina- 
tion offered  in  the  forbidden.  With  parents  and 
teachers  I  leave  this  problem,  believing  it  may 
be  solved,  and  the  child-mind  never  disturbed, 
puzzled  or  outraged  by  the  negatives  of  the  for- 
bidden. It  is  not  a  simple  one,  yet  we  have 
advanced  part  way  in  its  solution.  Shall  we 
solve  it  step  by  step,  or  by  a  single  stroke  that 
means  revolution?  Time  must  answer. 

Unfortunately,  we  ourselves  are  not  the 
product  of  such  early  training;  and  so,  to  make 
work  a  delight,  we  have  a  thousand  doubts  and 
fears  to  overcome.  These  doubts  and  fears  were 
grafted  in  our  minds  by  the  early  lessons,  and 
they  blossomed  into  trees  bearing  unwholesome 
fruit  through  the  nourishment  given  by  the  false 
philosophies  of  life.  Still,  we  are  what  we  are, 
through  the  evolution  of  the  past,  and  through 
the  fruits  of  early  discipline,  of  study,  of  ex- 
perience and  of  association  of  ideas;  and  now, 
with  that  past  behind  us  and  the  future  before 
us,  ideals  may  yet  be  grasped,  if  only  we  can 
make  work  one  continued  dream  of  delight.  Is 
this  possible?  Is  this  too  much  to  hope  for? 

To  appreciate  beauty  in  nature  or  art,  one 


74  Man    Limitless. 

must  not  content  himself  with  hurried  glances. 
He  must  view  the  panorama  of  nature  or  the  ob- 
ject of  art  somewhat  passively — contemplate  it 
leisurely.  Now  as  one  approaches  this  task,  let 
him  first  clearly  define  his  purpose.  Let  him, 
for  a  moment,  withdraw  his  gaze  from  the  moun- 
tain of  work  between  him  and  the  goal.  Let 
him  rest  the  eyes  of  his  soul  on  the  heights  he 
seeks  to  climb.  Let  him  examine  his  conscious 
self  through  the  mystic  counsel  of  the  ideal,  or 
subliminal  selfhood.  Let  the  conscious  or  ob- 
jective self  view,  under  this  able  counselor,  the 
path  to  the  end  with  all  its  formidable  barriers. 
Let  one  also,  under  the  guidance  of  that  wise 
counselor,  note  the  glorious  rewards  to  con- 
sciousness in  the  mental  unfoldment  to  be  gained 
by  doing  the  work.  Pausing  there,  in  the  still 
hour,  let  consciousness  decide  the  question. 
Does  it  feel  the  labor  too  great,  the  devotion  to 
purpose  a  sacrifice,  then  wait  a  little.  At  an- 
other time,  and  perhaps  still  another  and  an- 
other, try  the  same  experiment.  Let  weeks  or 
months  go  by,  if  you  will,  between  them;  then, 
if  each  and  every  time,  the  feeling  in  contemplat- 
ing the  tasks  is  one  of  dread,  accompanied  by 
regret  of  so  much  self-sacrifice,  why  do  not  at- 
tempt that  work.  Seek  some  other,  making  tests 
in  a  similar  way.  Work  you  must — that  you 


Work.  75 

cannot  free  yourself  from,  even  m  your  games 
of  exercise.  He  who  seeks  idleness  for  a  time 
often  does  well,  for  that  quiet  gives  the  sub- 
liminal selfhood  an  opportunity  to  speak  when 
the  conscious  may  listen.  This  other  selfhood, 
which  has  several  names  and  is  frequently 
spoken  of  by  our  superficial  writers  as  the  nobler 
self,  I  designate,  following  Flournoy,  Professor 
of  Psychology  in  the  University  of  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  as  the  subliminal  selfhood.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  it  acts  in  degree 
as  nerves  or  muscles,  in  performing  their  pur- 
pose, in  the  economy  of  life.  The  heart's  beat- 
ings are  not  always  uniform,  and  brain  centers 
respond  to  calls  with  varying  intensities  of  ac- 
tion. The  subliminal  self  cannot  be  compre- 
hended in  its  entirety — the  Hindus  call  it  the 
super-conscious,  it  forming  the  link  between 
man  and  God.  Still,  it  is  a  part  of  us — our  bet- 
ter, truer  selfhood,  which  the  coward,  conscious 
self  stupidly  battles  with,  as  if  it  were  an 
enemy.  Man  creates  his  own  doubts  and  fears, 
because  of  this  warfare  of  the  selves.  He  attri- 
butes his  change  of  attitude  to  moods — to  bad 
logic,  or  to  impulsiveness.  Let  him  harmonize 
his  selfhoods  in  those  quiet  hours  when  decision 
is  to  be  made.  Let  him  recognize  that  the  sub- 
liminal selfhood  is  the  real  suggester,  though 


76  Man    Limitless. 

the  conscious  will  claim  the  honor.  Action 
works  through  the  objective  or  conscious  mind; 
back  of  it,  however,  is  the  silent  mainspring  of 
all  life's  activity  and  force. 

Let  it  be  that  the  work  has  been  selected.  Let 
it  be  that  one  has  listened  to  these  inner  prompt- 
ings and  heeded  them.  Let  him  ever  remember, 
from  that  time  on,  there  must  be  no  turning 
back.  The  decision  has  been  made  with  due  de- 
liberation, and  is  final,  and  is  right.  Then  the 
purpose  is  born  of  love,  and  every  path  to  the 
end  will  loom  up  with  attractiveness.  When  the 
first  wakeful  moments  come  each  day,  let  him 
turn  his  thought  to  the  delight  in  accomplish- 
ment through  work.  Let  him  note,  from  time  to 
time,  the  advance  he  has  made  and  the  joy  that 
that  has  brought  him.  Such  habits  of  thought 
lift  one  above  all  petty  details  of  the  perplexities 
in  work,  and  even  make  him  glory  that  they  ex- 
ist for  him  to  conquer.  At  times,  in  his  most 
sacred  moods,  when  reaching  mentally  for  his 
good,  let  him  turn  to  Emerson :  ' '  There  are  de- 
grees in  idealism.  We  learn  first  to  play  with  it 
academically,  as  the  magnet  was  once  a  toy. 
Then  we  see  in  the  heyday  of  youth  and  poetry 
that  it  may  be  true,  that  it  is  true  in  gleams  and 
fragments.  Then  its  countenance  waxes  stern 
and  grand,  and  we  see  that  it  must  be  true.  It 


Work.  77 

now  shows  itself  ethical  and  practical.  We  learn 
that  God  is:  that  he  is  in  us  and  that  all  things 
are  shadows  of  him!" 

Whether  our  chosen  work  carry  us  in  the  in- 
ventor's workshop,  in  the  chemical  laboratory, 
in  linguistic  philosophy,  in  psychology's  limit- 
less field,  or  where  it  may,  there  is  one  new  sur- 
prise after  another  waiting  us,  and  each  new 
one  brings  greater  delight,  for  then  are  we  rais- 
ing ourselves  above  ourselves.  This  is  growth. 
This  is  work's  recompense.  Contemplating  this 
makes  all  the  word  work  implies  intense  with 
magnetic  attractiveness. 

The^Hincfii7~£fwami  Vivekananda,  in  one  of 
his  lectures  on  the  Yoga  philosophy,  crystallizes 
discipline  in  a  series  of  monosyllabic  words  most 
fitting :  ' '  Take  up  one  idea.  Make  that  one  idea 
your  life ;  dream  of  it,  think  of  it ;  live  on  that 
idea.  Let  the  brain,  the  body,  muscles,  nerves, 
every  part  of  your  body,  be  full  of  that  idea 
alone.  This  is  the  way  to  success." 

In  another  of  Swami  Vivekananda 's  lectures 
touching  upon  the  secret  of  work,  he  most  hap- 
pily says :  ' '  There  are  a  few  who  are  really  the 
salt  of  the  earth  in  every  country  and  who  work 
for  work's  sake,  who  do  not  care  for  name,  or 
fame,  or  to  get  to  heaven.  They  work  just  be- 
cause it  is  going  to  do  good.  You  should  work 


78  Man    Limitless. 

like  a  master  and  not  as  a  slave;  work  inces- 
santly, but  not  as  slaves  work.  Do  you  not 
see  how  everybody  works?  Nobody  can  rest; 
ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  mankind  work  as  slaves, 
and  the  result  is  misery;  it  is  selfish  work. 
Work  through  freedom.  Work  through  love. 
The  word  love  is  very  difficult  to  understand ;  it 
never  comes  until  there  is  freedom.  The 
ideal  man  is  he  who  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest 
silence  finds  the  intensest  activity,  finds  the 
silence  of  the  desert.  He  who  has  learned  the 
secret  of  restraint;  he  has  controlled  himself." 

It  is  also  true  that  ' '  the  instinct  of  man  passes 
eagerly  onward  to  the  impersonal  and  illimit- 
able," and  Joseph  Le  Conte,  in  his  work  on 
' '  Evolution, ' '  when  referring  to  this  fact,  says : 
"Ideals  are  but  mile-stones  which  we  put  suc- 
cessively behind  us,  while  we  press  on  to  another, 
they  are  successive  rounds  of  an  infinite  ladder, 
which  we  put  beneath  us  while  we  rise  higher." 

With  our  purpose  to  attain  an  ideal  or  a 
series  of  ideals,  for  many  appear  along  the  path 
of  life,  we  by  careful  selection  and  by  frequent 
contemplations  of  them  so  blend  our  work  with 
our  ideals  that  that  work  itself  is  idealized. 
This  is  a  step  towards  genius,  I  grant;  but  it  is 
a  step  all  toilers  can  take,  even  though  their 
highest  aspiration  is  only  to  be  ranked  among 


Work.  79 

those  who  do  and  dare  for  principle.  If  one 
reaches  this  point,  he  has  overcome  drudgery  in 
work;  and  one  is  certain  to  attain  to  this  if  he 
follows  practically  the  lines  herein  indicated. 
I  do  not  mean,  however,  to  be  understood  that 
there  is  no  other  way — if  I  succeed  in  pointing 
out  one  way  to  find  joy  in  work,  I  accomplish  my 
purpose.  Now,  the  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from 
all  this  is,  the  potency  of  suggestion;  and  its 
philosophy  demands  some  brief  consideration  to 
convince  the  reader  that  I  have  not  given  here 
a  theory,  but  a  method  demonstrated  by  prac- 
tical tests  to  be  a  safe  one  to  follow. 

Hypnotic  suggestion  has  a  limited  range  of 
usefulness.  Within  its  range,  however,  which 
has  broadened  since  Charcot  of  Paris  adopted  it 
as  a  substitute  for  anaesthetics  in  his  surgical 
operations,  it  has  been  found  most  valuable. 
For  the  moment,  it  may  check  pain,  lift  one  out 
of  various  physical  environments ;  and,  by  giving 
this  relief,  permit  operations  to  be  performed, 
or  curative  remedies  to  be  applied,  to  produce 
the  results  desired. 

Suggestion  without  hypnotism  has  a  wider 
range.  Its  effect  on  the  young  was  noted  ages 
ago,  and  was  spoken  of  as  the  power  of  example. 
Often  it  was  noted  that  a  single  idea  or  per- 
haps a  thought  found  lodgment  in  another's 


80  Man    Limitless. 

brain,  and  later  became  a  directing  force  in  the 
life  of  him  receiving.  The  incident  was  attrib- 
uted to  accident  or  coincidence,  and  neither 
the  real  purpose  nor  potency  of  the  suggestion 
understood.  Now,  though  not  yet  generally  ac- 
cepted, the  curative  effects  of  suggestion  are  be- 
ginning to  be  recognized  in  chronic  and  the 
most  stubborn  diseases  found  in  the  human 
system.  The  power  of  suggestion  also  in  mak- 
ing bright  the  long,  dark  and  dreary  paths  to  be 
traversed  by  one  seeking  to  attain  definite  pur- 
poses is  absolute,  if  only  properly  understood 
and  applied.  I  grant,  however,  that  its  relation 
to  man,  both  physically  and  mentally,  is  as  yet  a 
subject  of  much  speculation  and  controversy. 

In  a  paper  read  by  Charles  M.  Barrows  of 
Boston  before  the  Society  of  Psychical  Research 
in  London  in  1897,  and  which  appeared  in  Part 
XXX,  Vol.  XII,  of  the  proceedings  of  that  so- 
ciety, he  clearly  demonstrated  that  by  the  use 
of  suggestion  as  a  remedial  agent,  he  had  over- 
come chronic  cases  (a  majority  of  them  con- 
sidered hopeless  by  eminent  physicians)  of  deaf- 
ness, sprains,  rheumatism,  neuralgia,  abnormal 
growths,  etc.  This  remarkable  paper  concludes 
with: 

"What  if  it  should  appear  that  this  subliminal 
agent  is  simply  one  intelligent  actor  filling  the 


Work.  8 1 

universe  with  its  presence  as  the  ether  fills  space, 
the  common  inspirer  of  all  mankind?  By  what 
authority  is  it  assumed  that  this  wizard  self 
resident  in  one  man  is  related  to  the  selves  of 
other  men  merely  as,  in  the  language  of  theology, 
one  personal  soul  is  related  to  the  rest?  Are 
we  sure  that  this  transcendent  energy  is  parted 
into  numberless  distinct  entities,  one  for  each 
human  being  ?  Should  we  plunge  into  a  darker 
mystery,  were  we  to  compare  this  subliminal 
agent  or  self  to  a  skilled  musician  presiding  over 
many  pipes  and  keys,  and  playing  through  each 
what  music  he  will?  Imagine  each  human  be- 
ing one  of  millions  of  animate  organs,  through 
whose  mind  and  body  one  unified,  all  pervasive, 
immaterial  self  blows  with  the  breath  of  energy 
to  make  the  varied  music  we  call  life.  If  this 
were  true,  then  would  the  subliminal  self  be  a 
universal  fountain  of  energy,  and  each  man  an 
outlet  of  the  stream;  each  man's  personal  self 
would  be  contained  in  it,  and  thus  made  one 
with  the  other;  and  with  a  slight  change,  we 
might  adapt  the  quotation:  'In  that  deep  force, 
the  last  fact  behind  which  analysis  cannot  go, 
all  psychical  and  bodily  effects  find  their  com- 
mon origin.'  ' 

In  my  own  demonstrating  along  the  lines  of 
overcoming  drudgery  in  work  and  converting 


82  Man    Limitless. 

it  into  joy  and  delight,  I  began  with  myself. 
It  came  in  my  way  in  the  business  of  my  pro- 
fession to  familiarize  myself  with  Spanish,  after 
I  was  forty  years  of  age.  I  had  taken  a  super- 
ficial course  in  the  language  covering  a  space 
of  six  months  in  my  senior  year  in  college,  and 
naturally  but  little  impression  of  that  had  re- 
mained. Just  before  taking  a  trip  to  a  Spanish 
country,  I  would  crowd  all  I  could  of  this  work 
in  a  few  weeks  and  carry  books  to  continue  the 
study  on  my  journey.  I  found  the  task  grievous. 
Later  I  learned  to  apply  suggestion  to  my  work, 
as  herein  set  forth,  and  lo!  a  toil  became  a  joy, 
and  the  result  thereafter  was  surprising  progress 
from  week  to  week.  My  ears  as  well  as  my 
eyes  seemed  to  rejoice  to  perform  their  respec- 
tive functions  to  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of 
this  self-imposed  task.  Again  I  applied  like  sug- 
gestions to  various  forms  of  work  that  come  to 
one  in  active  life,  and  later  I  applied  it  to  that 
which  forms  the  humdrum  of  life,  and  I  learned 
the  wide  application  of  this  fruitful  force.  Dur- 
ing these  years  I  made  tests  as  I  might  among 
friends,  following  the  same  repeatedly  to  happy 
conclusions.  I  then  read  history  from  a  new 
standpoint,  and  its  pages  I  found  full  of  ex- 
amples where  even  suggestion  had  awakened 


Work.  83 

powers  undreamed  of  in  those  that  rose  to  the 
galaxy  of  geniuses. 

We  have  sometimes  called  these  effects  the 
power  of  a  word  or  the  power  of  a  thought. 
For  a  moment  let  us  revel  in  the  unknown — 
the  speculative,  as  we  inquire  after  the  real 
cause  of  this  magic  force.  Of  ourselves  it  is, 
but  not  wholly  within  ourselves.  Of  the  infinite 
energy  of  the  universe  it  is,  we  may  say ;  but  that 
at  once  provokes  the  question,  what  is  the  in- 
finite energy  of  the  universe?  It  is  past  com- 
plete comprehension,  it  seems,  with  our  present 
unfoldment.  Do  not  let  us  argue  that  it  is  be- 
yond the  grasp  of  the  human  mind,  for  that  limit 
has  never  been  reached.  Man's  development  has 
long  been  restrained  by  studying  his  seeming 
limitations.  When  we  find  a  new  force  in  na- 
ture that  can  be  made  useful,  whether  it  be  elec- 
tricity, telepathy  or  suggestion,  let  us  learn  how 
to  use  it  for  our  good.  Let  us  leave  definitions 
to  those  who  make  dictionaries.  Be  it  ours 
to  prove  the  wide  application  and  use  of  these 
forces,  and  the  lexicographer  will  learn  later 
how  to  define  them.  Belief  in  the  continuity  of 
life  is  fast  reconciling  man  to  accept  progression 
now  and  evermore  as  endless  evolution.  With 
our  finding  joy  in  all  work,  we  waken  to  some  of 
the  greatest  delights  of  existence.  We  give  our 


84  Man    Limitless. 

selfhoods  wider  opportunities  to  unfold.  We 
find  new  chords  in  the  harp  of  life's  harmony 
which  we  may  strike,  and  these  vibrations  will 
reach  and  thrill  other  hearts  than  ours,  bring- 
ing to  them  as  to  us  new  joy  in  living. 


"Man  is  a  centre,  as  it  were,  and  he  is  at- 
tracting all  the  powers  of  the  universe  towards 
himself,  and  in  this  centre  is  fusing  them  all 
and  ejecting  them  again  in  a  big  current.  That 
centre  is  the  real  man,  the  almighty,  the  om- 
niscient, and  he  draws  the  whole  universe  to- 
wards him;  good,  or  bad,  misery  or  happiness, 
all  turning  towards  him,  clinging  round  him, 
and  out  of  them  he  fashions  the  tremendous 
power  called  character  and  throws  it  outwards. 
As  he  has  the  power  of  drawing  in  anything,  so 
he  has  the  power  of  throwing  it  out." — From 
Karma  Yoga  of  Swami  Vivekananda. 


Somewhere  in  Memory's  cabinet  all  we  have 
ever  studied,  or  read,  or  seen,  or  thought  is  held 
(perhaps  I  should  say  guarded) ;  but  to  find 
these  mental  treasures  when  we  would — that  is 
the  problem. 


96 


CONTROL  OF  MEMORY. 

Bulwer.  in  "The  Coming  Race,"  told,  as  it 
came  to  him,  his  story  of  heights  to  be  attained 
by  man,  investing  them  with  a  wealth  of  color 
that  only  a  novelist's  imagination  could  con- 
ceive and  draw.  Bellamy,  in  "Looking  Back- 
ward," gave  us  one  from  another  standpoint. 
Both  presented  us  with  man  emancipated  from 
strife,  envy,  pride,  vanity  and  greed.  Novelists 
deal  often  with  a  Real  they  do  not  comprehend. 
Imagination  is  creative,  but  the  secret  wires 
that  bind  it  to  the  Unseen  carry  the  substance 
out  of  which  are  fashioned  ideals  to  be  wrought. 
They  who  cultivate  the  imagination,  as  these 
writers  have  done,  may  write  and  speak  prophet- 
ically, even  though  they  may  not  present  every 
detail  with  the  exactness  or  completeness  the 
future  shall  reveal. 

As  one  studies  man's  unfoldment  during  the 
centuries  past,  he  will  find  that  novelists  and 
poets  have  foretold  much  of  what  was  to  come. 
Who,  in  Shakespeare's  time,  could  have  inter- 
preted Puck's  "I'll  put  a  girdle  round  about 
the  earth  in  forty  minutes?"  And  who  is  so 


88  Man    Limitless. 

wise  that  he  can  comprehend  and  intelligently 
tell  to  man  to-day  all  that  Schiller  felt  when  he 
wrote  in  "Wilhelm  Tell" — "Seid  einig — einig 
— einig"  (Be  united — united — united) ;  and 
Robert  Browning  hinted  at  what  a  complete  man 
might  be  in 

....  "Finds  progress  man's  distinctive  mark 

alone, 

Not  God's,  and  not  the  beast's; 
God  is,  they  are, 
Man  partly  is,  and  wholly  hopes  to  be." 

Long  ago  we  were  told  that  Pontius  Pilate 
asked  "What  is  Truth?"  Was  the  question 
an  intuitional  breathing?  Sermon  after  ser- 
mon has  been  written  on  this  text.  These  hon- 
est, right-thinking  men,  who  made  this  their 
text,  doubtless  believed  what  they  wrote:  but 
there  was  not  and  is  not  unanimity  of  opin- 
ion. They  differed  and  differ  widely,  and  yet 
not  for  controversy.  Each  wrote  and  each 
writes  to-day  from  his  plane  of  unfoldment — 
he  could  do,  he  can  do  no  more  than  that.  Truth 
is  the  unchangeable, — the  absolute.  Our  con- 
ceptions of  it  can  never  be  beyond  our  own  plane 
of  evolution  or  progression.  Students  in  psy^ 
chology  and  philosophy  to-day  are  growing  less 


Control  of  Memory.  89 

dogmatic — they  are  now  honest  searchers  for 
truth.  In  natural  as  in  mental  science,  experi- 
ments are  being  made,  and  each  discovery  lifts 
man  one  step  higher  toward  his  possible  goal. 

In  a  general  way  we  have  noted  all  this.  We 
have  noted  of  late  wonderful  unfoldment  and 
grasp  displayed  by  our  young  students  in  the 
preparatory  schools  before  completing  the  stud- 
ies required  to  enter  college.  We  have  attrib- 
uted it  to  better  methods  of  teaching,  or  more 
faithful  application  on  the  part  of  the  student. 
In  part,  both  are  true.  But  back  of  all  there 
is  a  subtle  something  overlooked,  and  that  is 
the  basic  cause.  By  our  methods  of  teaching 
and  studying,  teacher  and  student  have  learned 
better  how  to  call  forth  the  faculties  of  the 
mind.  By  these,  memory  has  been  strengthened, 
the  sensibilities  have  been  intensified,  and  per- 
ception has  been  quickened  and  made  more  clear 
and  accurate.  In  developing  the  arm  muscle, 
the  physical  trainer  does  not  devote  all  his  at- 
tention to  the  arm.  He  knows  the  bearing  every 
muscle  in  the  system  has  upon  the  arm.  He 
has  attained  this  knowledge  by  tests;  and  the 
wonderful  work  now  being  done  by  many  of 
these  physical  trainers  is  making  Samsons  in 
our  very  midst.  Teachers  in  the  mental  field 
are  fast  becoming  students  in  psychology;  but 


90  Man    Limitless. 

it  seems  to  me  that  that  great  laboratory  has  as 
yet  only  opened  to  inquirers  its  outer  doors. 

Memory,  logic  and  reason  are  the  tools  one 
uses  to  master  a  study.  The  compartment  of 
memory  in  the  mind  contains  facts  learned.  Dr. 
Henry  Maudsley  of  London,  however,  claims 
that  we  only  speak  metaphorically  when  we 
make  such  statements.  He  firmly  maintains 
there  is  no  repository  in  which  ideas  are  stored 
up;  and  declares  when  an  idea  which  we  have 
once  had  is  excited  again,  that  there  is  simply 
a  reproduction  of  the  same  nervous  current,  with 
the  conscious  addition  that  it  is  a  reproduction. 
Psychology,  he  claims,  affords  no  help  in  our 
efforts  to  understand  this  faculty  of  memory; 
because  physiologically  considered,  the  condi- 
tion of  memory  is  "the  organic  process  by  which 
nerve-experiences  in  the  different  centers  are 
registered,  and  to  recollect  is  to  revive  these  ex- 
periences in  the  highest  centers — to  stimulate, 
by  external  or  internal  causes,  their  residua, 
aptitudes,  dispositions,  or  whatever  else  we  may 
choose  to  call  them,  into  functual  activity." 

If  Dr.  Maudsley  is  correct  in  this,  though  I 
do  not  accept  his  conclusion,  still  I  maintain, 
the  position  of  the  psychologist  to  discipline  the 
mental  mechanism  so  as  to  stimulate  and  awaken 
this  functual  activity  in  the  highest  nerve  cen- 


Control  of  Memory.  91 

ters,  embraces  the  same  thought  as  that  of  carry- 
ing discipline  to  a  point  that  all  we  give  memory 
to  hold  may  be  arranged  or  tabulated.  And, 
therefore,  this  awakening  or  disciplining  can  be 
further  carried  to  such  perfection  that,  no  mat- 
ter how  long  the  interval  may  be  since  we  placed 
that  word,  idea  or  thought  in  memory's  cabi- 
net, when  we  have  need  of  it,  it  will  present 
itself  instantaneously.  Having  lifted  ourselves 
to  this  unfoldment,  to  learn  language  would  be  a 
joyous  pastime,  and  knowledge  once  culled, 
would  be  consciously  forever  retained.  Our  train- 
ing has  started  us  on  the  way ;  and,  to  advance  as 
one's  desires  prompt,  we  should  recognize  first 
that  this  goal  can  be  attained.  To  educate  per- 
ception to  this  point  I  claim  is  the  primary  work, 
and  the  task  is  not  a  light  one.  If  the  progress 
in  mental  development  in  the  past  century,  par- 
ticularly in  the  last  third  of  that  century,  teaches 
anything,  it  is  that  phenomenal  unfoldment  has 
been  made.  If  the  logic  of  the  mental  trend  for 
the  same  period  records  any  finality,  it  is  the 
conviction  that  we  have  only  commenced  to 
take  over  the  heritage  of  infinite  power  resident 
in  our  selfhoods.  If  our  conception  of  ultimate 
man  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  growth  so  recorded, 
then  we  have  reached  a  period  where  to  ques- 


92  Man    Limitless. 

tion  any  abridgment  of  man 's  mental  scope  is  il- 
logical. 

In  our  early  studies  in  mental  science,  we 
were  told  that  the  faculties  or  capacities  of  the 
mind  were  tersely  expressed  in  seeing,  feeling 
and  knowing.  There  were  no  limitations  placed 
on  our  capacities  to  see  or  perceive,  for  through 
this  faculty  the  realm  of  the  imagination  was 
reached  and  feeling  struck  the  sensitive  chord 
of  our  being  whose  secret  home  is  in  the  imagi- 
nation, so  its  depth  could  not  be  sounded.  But 
to  know — that  was  beyond  belief,  and  here  there 
were  limitations.  Unfoldment  has  brought 
knowledge.  It  has  increased  as  we  unfolded — 
it  is  ever  increasing — but  we  only  know  when 
we  can  bring  forward  the  proofs.  Just  here  it 
is  to  be  noted  that  these  proofs,  though  clear  to 
us,  may  not  be  patent  to  another.  As  presented, 
they  may  force  belief  in  him,  but  he  too  must 
make  the  tests  before  he  can  claim  to  know. 

If  this  reasoning  will  lead  my  reader  to  be- 
lieve that  man's  mental  powers  have  only  been 
toyed  with  as  yet — that  memory's  cabinet  is 
practically  untabulated  and  at  best  loosely  ar- 
ranged— that  our  chief  discipline  begins  there, 
that  we  may  have  a  wealth  of  facts  (supply) 
to  draw  from,  that  logic  and  reason  may  assume 
no  false  premises,  then  we  may  rejoice  to  learn 


Control  of  Memory.  93 

of  new  methods  to  help  perfect  (shall  I  say) 
the  tabulation  of  the  contents  stored  in  the 
pigeon  holes  of  memory's  cabinet,  that  its  treas- 
ures may  always  be  ready  for  us  as  calls  or 
drafts  are  made. 

That  somewhere  in  the  storehouse  of  memory 
every  word,  idea  or  thought  we  have  placed 
there  is  lodged,  has  been  proven  to  us  over  and 
over  again.  Many  of  them  we  do  not  care  to 
remember — we  never  even  tried  to  give  them  a 
permanent  place ;  still,  as  some  new  scene  is  pre- 
sented, or  some  story  related,  we  clearly  recall 
without  effort  incidents  of  the  long  ago  which 
we  had  consigned  to  the  closed  chamber  of  For- 
getfulness.  We  all  have  had  enough  experience 
of  this  kind  to  convince  us  that  forgetfulness 
is  only  transitory.  Somewhere  in  memory's 
cabinet  all  we  have  ever  studied,  or  read,  or 
seen,  or  thought,  is  held  (perhaps  I  should  say 
guarded) ;  but  to  find  these  mental  treasures 
when  we  would — that  is  the  problem.  If  we 
have  occasion,  and  due  notice  in  advance,  to  re- 
cite a  poem  learned  years  ago,  we  are  prone  to 
turn  to  the  volume  where  it  may  be  found  and 
read  it  over  and  over  again  until  we  know  mem- 
ory will  respond  on  the  occasion.  Is  this  the 
best  way? 

As  my  subject  is  so  vast,  I  can  only  hope  to 


94  Man    Limitless. 

present  in  a  single  essay  some  preliminary  dis- 
cipline to  start  an  investigator  on  a  few  lines 
only,  in  this  work  of  tabulating  the  riches  in 
memory's  storehouse.  What  I  have  already  done 
in  my  experiments  assures  me  that  complete 
tabulation  is  not  a  dream  or  a  transcendental- 
ism. The  intellectual  progress  I  have  referred  to 
among  our  young  students  proves  they  have  bet- 
ter command  here  than  students  had  thirty  years 
ago.  The  discipline  of  the  schools  has  brought 
this  about  in  an  indirect  way.  May  it  not  be 
that  the  time  has  now  come  when  more  direct 
training  can  be  used  to  advantage,  though  that 
training  be  purely  voluntary,  and  each  indi- 
vidual enter  upon  it  alone  ? 

Primarily,  I  charge  the  student  to  repeated 
self-examinations  until  he  convinces  himself 
that  forgetfulness  only  expresses  a  relative  con- 
dition. It  means  simply  that  memory  does  not 
respond  to  the  will  at  that  particular  moment. 
An  hour  or  perhaps  a  week  or  month  after  mem- 
ory may  respond  to  that  call,  even  though  the 
call  has  not  been  repeated.  We  have  all  gone 
through  such  experiences.  May  it  be  that  there 
is  a  labyrinth  of  stations  through  which  the 
message  was  forced  to  pass  before  the  home 
office  could  be  reached  and  the  response  sent  to 
consciousness?  May  it  be  that  beyond  our  own 


Control  of  Memory.  95 

selfhoods  are  spirit  forces  that  receive  the  mes- 
sage and  directly  attend  to  its  transmission? 
Had  our  loved  household  American  poet  pierced 
this  center  before  he  wrote: 

"The  Great  Spirit,  the  Creator, 
Sends  them  thither  on  His  errand, 
Sends  them  to  us  with  His  message."? 

Socrates  knew  his  demon,  and  Plato  gave  the 
philosophy  of  Socrates  immortal  life.  Great 
poems,  great  dramas,  great  operas,  have  been 
composed  through  intuitions  called  inspirations. 
Novelists  have  dreamed  of  plots  to  stories  be- 
fore touching  pen  to  paper  that  recorded  them. 
Perhaps,  beside  the  holding  of  every  word,  idea 
or  thought  heard,  learned  or  treasured  in  this 
life,  the  tablets  of  past  memories  are  safely 
recorded  there  as  well.  The  Hindus  claim  this 
self-evident — the  Japanese  regard  it  in  their 
philosophy  as  an  axiom;  and,  if  this  be  true, 
then  it  is  memory  of  that  past,  through  dreams, 
that  has  furnished  poets,  novelists  and  musical 
composers  over  and  over  again,  with  the  woof 
to  hold  the  brilliant  mental  pictures  out  of 
which  was  fashioned  the  dramatic  scenes  genius 
uses  to  symbol  its  purposes.  The  Hindu  phil- 
losophy  suggests  methods  to  awaken  to  conscious- 


96  Man    Limitless. 

ness  past  memories.  If  one  can  learn  first  how 
to  draw  from  memory  on  call  all  gleaned  in  his 
present  incarnation,  it  may  advance  him  so  that 
he  can  learn  to  recall  past  memories  of  other  ex- 
istences. Our  work  is  not,  at  this  point,  to  dis- 
cuss whether  or  not  there  have  been  re-births. 
If  there  have  been,  and  this  philosophy  is  rap- 
idly gaining  converts,  its  absolute  proof  will 
some  day  be  found  through  the  faculty  of  mem- 
ory. If  man  gains  control  of  memory,  as  herein 
suggested  as  possible,  it  will  be  a  natural  se- 
quence to  follow  to  that  apparently  tightly 
sealed  compartment  of  the  past.  If  found, 
opened,  and  its  treasures  disclosed,  then  man 
will  have  attained  to  the  height  where  Eastern 
philosophers  long  ago  placed  him,  for  then  "no 
being  can  be  greater  than  man." 

To  record  now  some  of  my  experiments  that 
have  convinced  me  of  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ments I  have  made  relating  to  control  of  the 
treasures  in  this  storehouse  of  memory,  and  to 
suggest  a  few  of  the  methods  I  have  tried  and 
proven  as  valuable  aids  to  this  end,  I  come,  at 
this  late  moment,  abreast  of  my  subject : 

First,  in  my  silent  hours  I  have  quietly  but 
firmly  held  the  thought  or  sent  the  suggestion 
to  consciousness  that  to  forget  was  impossible — 
a  truth  we  all  accept,  but  one  we  thoughtlessly 


Control  of  Memory.  97 

deny  repeatedly  in  our  ordinary  conversation. 
Here  is  a  habit  to  be  broken — a  habit  that  is 
detrimental  to  the  development  of  a  ready  mem- 
ory, and  a  habit  that  is  pernicious,  because  we 
are  affirmatively  asserting  as  facts  what  we 
know  are  not.  He  who  says  I  have  forgotten 
— it  has  entirely  passed  from  memory — is  not 
speaking  truth. 

I  found  that  by  holding  myself  passive  for  a 
half  hour  each  day,  often  giving  five  minutes  to 
firmly  fix  and  hold  this  thought  in  mind,  within 
a  single  month  I  had  almost  ceased  from  using 
the  word  "forget."  I  also  found,  at  other  mo- 
ments during  the  day,  facts  and  incidents  were 
recalled,  without  effort,  that  I  especially  wanted 
to  use  to  assist  in  some  business  or  social  mat- 
ter engrossing  me.  With  all  this  came  a  delight ; 
and  it  seemed  that  memory  was  furnishing  logic 
and  reason  with  a  wealth  of  material  to  be 
worked  over  to  carry  out  their  purposes  in  my 
personal  affairs. 

Later  on  I  began  to  direct  my  work  to  re- 
calling particular  names  and  faces  of  those 
known  long  ago ;  and  it  seemed  that  old  friends 
(many  long  ago  dead)  almost  visited  me  again. 
Over  boy-dreams  of  life  I  went  with  joyousness 
— the  visions  became  very  real — I  could  not 
fancy  myself  alone — they,  the  former  compan- 


98  Man    Limitless. 

ions  seemed  present,  helping  me  to  recall  a  past. 
Who  shall  say  they  were  not  there  ? 

Years  ago  I  had  made  a  specialty  of  com- 
mitting poems  I  loved,  and  entire  scenes  from 
plays  of  Shakespeare  and  other  dramatists,  to 
memory.  I  attempted  to  recall  some  of  these. 
Sometimes  I  made  little  progress.  I  have  gone 
to  three  or  four  sittings,  holding  for  five  or  ten 
minutes  a  mental  picture  of  the  scene  described, 
and  waited  for  words  to  come  in  perfect  order, 
and  they  would  not.  Then,  days  after,  when  I 
dropped  that  particular  task,  the  entire  poem 
or  dramatic  scene  has  flashed  to  consciousness 
with  hardly  a  single  synonymous  word  substi- 
tuted for  any  the  author  used.  I  now  am  refus- 
ing to  turn  back  to  the  volumes  where  I  could 
find  these  poems  or  dramas.  I  wait  till  they  come 
back  to  me,  simply  asking  memory  to  disclose. 
I  have  even  carried  this  to  the  repeating  of 
poems  in  Latin  and  in  German  which  I  com- 
mitted in  college  days  and  have  not  seriously 
tried  to  recall  for  spaces  of  fully  thirty  years. 

In  all  this  work  I  beg  my  reader  to  note  that 
I  am  working  something  like  the  inventor  in  his 
work-shop.  Even  after  he  may  have  brought 
out  something  original  and  secured  letters  pat- 
ent, he  usually  regards  that  as  representing  only 
the  fundamental  or  basic  purpose  of  his  plan. 


Control  of  Memory.  99 

Though  an  original  idea  is  embodied,  improve- 
ments may  be  required  to  make  it  practical. 

I  require  more  leisure  than  I  have  at  present 
to  carry  my  experiments  to  a  point  where  from 
them  I  can  fashion  a  method  and  give  the  world 
a  complete  working  system,  whereby  the  treas- 
ures stored  in  memory  can  be  grasped  as  will 
may  demand.  This  leisure  I  propose  to  bring  to 
myself  in  due  time;  but  prior  to  that,  I  would 
I  might  learn  of  hundreds  working  for  the  same 
ends,  whether  on  these  or  other  lines  (for  there 
cannot  be  too  many  students  here),  as  this  age 
demands  that  the  faculty  of  memory  be  made 
absolutely  subservient  to  the  will. 

There  is  a  particularly  delightful  test  and 
one  which  I  hope  sometime  to  make.  This  is  the 
going  into  solitude,  carrying  with  me  a  Greek 
tragedy  or  a  Latin  comedy  I  read  in  college  and 
have  never  glanced  at  since — one,  however,  that 
I  once  knew  well.  Then,  without  referring  to 
translation,  grammar  or  lexicon,  I  shall  ask 
memory  to  permit  me  to  read  and  enjoy  it 
again.  There  on  the  tablets  of  memory  all  is 
recorded.  Let  us  find  those  tablets. 

If,  as  some  tell  us,  and  as  we  sometimes  feel, 
we  can  by  true  thoughts  call  to  us  spirit  forces 
that  can  aid  us  in  this  task,  then  let  us  call 
them.  Great  writers,  great  inventors,  great  re- 


ioo  Man    Limitless. 

formers,  great  statesmen  have  thought  out  their 
best  purposes  alone,  or  gone  where  they  might 
be  alone  and  undisturbed,  that  a  greater  intel- 
ligence or  a  combination  of  intelligences  might 
speak  to  them.  Longfellow  clearly  felt  and  un- 
derstood that  the  wise  caught  glimpses  beyond 
the  earth's  plane  and  delicately,  yet  forcibly 
wrote : 

' '  Thus  the  seer  with  vision  clear 

Sees  forms  appear  and  disappear 

In  the  perpetual  round  of  strange,  mysterious 

change 

From  birth  to  death,  from  death  to  life, 
From  earth  to  heaven,  from  heaven  to  earth, 
Till  glimpses  more  sublime  of  things  unseen  be- 
fore, 

Unto  his  wondering  eyes  reveal 
The  Universe,  as  an  immeasurable  wheel 
Turning  forevermore,  in  the  rapid  and  rushing 
river  of  Time." 

Within  one's  self  is  the  real  incentive  to  ac- 
tion. May  not  the  prompting  come  through 
subconscious  vibrative  force?  The  subconscious 
knows  of  the  riches  in  this  storehouse,  and  may 
it  not  urge  the  appropriation?  May  the  secrets 
of  the  subconscious  be  its  wealth  gained  by  its 


Control  of  Memory.  101 

intimate  connection  with  spirit  guides  or  with 
the  Universal?  What  we  know  tells  us  of  much 
we  do  not  know.  Shall  we  wait  and  argue 
against  theories  that  may  or  may  not  be  fully 
proven;  or,  shall  we  go  forward  rejoicing  to 
learn  and  know,  and  through  patient,  faithful 
self-discipline  add  to  our  knowledge  till  the 
proofs  gleaned  overcome  some  theories,  reveal 
others  to  be  true,  and  give  us  a  philosophy  rest- 
ing on  the  demonstrations  of  human  experi- 
ences ? 


"This  stored-up  mental  reservoir  is  a  sub- 
merged personality  which  thinks,  reasons,  loves, 
fears,  believes,  accepts,  and  draws  conclusions 
beneath  and  independent  of  consciousness." 

"Man,  as  a  soul,  should  affirm  his  rule  and 
dominion  over  his  body  as  distinctly  as  over 
any  other  machine  he  uses.  He  should  gain  a 
positive  sense  that  his  physique  is  not  himself, 
but  rather  his  most  obedient  servant.  As  a 
spiritual  ego  he  should  also  disconnect  himself, 
in  consciousness,  from  his  lower  or  sensuous 
mind,  while  intuitively  asserting  his  supremacy 
over  it,  and  also  over  intellect  and  memory.  As 
he  rises  above  all  inferiors,  they  lose  their  tyran- 
nous dispositions  and  drop  into  beautiful  min- 
istry and  subordination." — Henry  Wood  in 
"Ideal  Suggestion  through  Mental  Photog- 
raphy." 


103 


Back  of  every  effect  there  is  a  cause,  and  if 
we  follow  the  trail  to  its  starting  point  we  shall 
find  suggestion  the  creative  protoplasm  out  of 
which  it  grew,  be  the  act  what  it  may. 


to/ 


SUGGESTION. 

Let  one  take  a  retrospect  of  his  own  life,  and 
he  will  find  behind  every  serious  act  he  has 
performed  there  was  originally  a  suggestion  out 
of  which  it  grew  or  was  formulated.  This  sug- 
gestion may  have  been  brought  to  his  conscious- 
ness by  another,  by  quietly  reading  something 
co-related  to  it,  or  by  some  mystic  cause  spring- 
ing from  an  awakening  desire.  Back  of  every 
effect  there  is  a  cause,  and  if  we  follow  the 
trail  to  its  starting  point  we  shall  find  sug- 
gestion the  creative  protoplasm  out  of  which  it 
grew,  be  the  act  what  it  may.  When  first  the 
suggestion  harbored  itself  in  thought,  it  may 
have  attracted  little  attention.  Once  received, 
however,  it  seems  to  possess  a  vitality  of  its  own, 
and  grows  and  spreads  until  recognized  by  ob- 
jective consciousness.  Sometimes  the  growth  has 
been  so  slow  that  memory  finds  difficulty  in  fix- 
ing the  time  of  the  impression;  but  when  se- 
curely lodged,  it  appears  to  preserve  for  use 
the  vital  spark  to  spring  into  robust  life  at  the 
call  of  opportunity  or  desire. 

Observing  all  this  it  is  pertinent  to  inquire 

105 


io6  Man    Limitless. 

if  suggestion  has  a  potency  of  its  own,  and  if  so 
on  what  stimuli  it  thrives.  Can  it  be  converted 
into  force  that  will  aid  one  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  purpose  ?  Is  it  of  itself  an  entity  ?  Is 
it  a  substance  out  of  which  grow  creative 
thoughts  that  mould  material  things?  Does  it 
of  itself  bind  together  images  and  concepts 
which  give  birth  to  ideas  out  of  which  reason 
weaves  thought?  Is  it  the  starting  base  of 
action — the  forerunner  of  the  moulding  of  pur- 
pose— the  indestructible  germ  pressing  forward 
the  unfoldment  of  man? 

The  hypnotist  has  proven  that  one  under 
hypnotic  influence  is  in  a  sleep  which  differs 
from  natural  sleep  only  in  the  fact  that  one  has 
the  free  use  of  all  his  faculties  except  objective 
consciousness.  The  subjective  is  reached  by 
the  hypnotist  through  suggestion,  and  the  patient 
readily  accepts  the  suggestion  as  true,  then  from 
that  point  of  view,  argues  and  acts  logically 
upon  the  assumed  premise.  Although  hypnotic 
suggestion  is  extensively  practiced  by  medical 
men  to-day,  the  best  authority  indorses  the  opin- 
ion that  hypnotism  itself  has  no  curative  power. 
Dr.  Tuckey  regards  it  as  "merely  a  psychical 
preparation  or  vehicle." 

Charles  M.  Barrows  of  Boston  has  had  a  wide 
and  successful  experience  in  treating  and  heal- 


Suggestion.  107 

ing  by  suggestion  without  hypnotism.  He  has 
presented  some  very  valuable  papers  before  va- 
rious societies  of  original  research,  and  gives  an 
outline  of  his  work  in  a  little  volume  entitled 
"Suggestion  Instead  of  Medicine,"  from  which 
I  quote: 

' '  The  more  intimate  and  extensive  study  which 
scientific  methods  now  make  possible  shows 
man's  psychical  being  to  be  no  such  thoroughly 
explored  region  of  known  extent  and  determined 
limits  as  some  earlier  scholars  have  supposed. 
It  resembles  the  grants  of  land  made  to  the  first 
settlers  along  our  Atlantic  coast, — strips  of  sea- 
board territory  bounded  in  part,  but  stretching 
away  into  undefined  wilds,  no  one  knew  how  far 
to  the  westward.  Certain  sides  and  aspects  of 
our  mental  life,  some  faculties  and  functions 
have  indeed  become  familiar ;  but  only  in  recent 
years  have  students  turned  their  attention  to  the 
dim  domain  yet  unsurveyed,  or  seriously  asked 
how  far  into  the  unknown  waste  the  frontier 
line  of  research  may  lawfully  be  pushed.  This 
closer  acquaintance  with  his  psychical  resources 
strengthens  the  conviction  that  man  is  too  large 
a  being,  too  highly  endowed,  to  find  complete 
expression  and  an  adequate  outlet  for  his  total 
self  through  the  channel  of  a  single  conscious- 
ness; that  not  all  the  activities  of  which  he  is 


io8  Man    Limitless. 

capable  can  find  room  and  play,  unless  they  use 
the  whole  brain  for  an  organ.  Our  remote  an- 
cestors may  have  possessed  a  very  limited  con- 
sciousness, unvexed  by  any  of  the  problems  of 
a  later  age  or  a  science  which  'makes  thought 
psychical  and  blots  out  life  with  question 
marks';  and  a  simpler  brain  doubtless  sufficed 
for  its  organ.  But  it  is  a  far  cry  from  the  simian 
in  his  savage  wildness  to  the  civilized  gentleman 
with  his  refinements  and  varied  culture.  Slowly 
the  man  supersedes  the  beast;  and  cosmic 
agencies,  'acting  through  five-score  millenniums', 
have  evolved  the  complex  structure  that  crowns 
the  nervous  system  of  the  human  being  to-day. 
Plurality  of  consciousness  is  granted  now  to  be 
the  underlying  fact  which  makes  true  suggestion 
possible. ' ' 

To  produce  results  the  suggestion  is  a  psy- 
chical message  which  passes  from  the  suggester 
to  the  brain  of  the  one  receiving,  and  must  by  its 
influence  affect  some  part  of  the  gray  matter  in 
the  brain.  Barrows  argues  that  that  gray  mat- 
ter does  not  think,  and  does  not  understand  lan- 
guage any  more  than  bones  and  muscles  do ;  and 
yet  certain  kinds  of  stimuli  are  carried  in  these 
messages  and  these  affect  that  gray  matter  ac- 
cording to  biological  law.  Although  changes  are 
wrought  and  these  changes  are  the  result  of 


Suggestion.  109 

a  natural  law,  still  he  confesses  it  "involves  a 
baffling  mystery"  and  must  so  continue  till  we 
learn  how  to  invade  "the  laboratory  of  occipital 
consciousness. ' ' 

When  we  seriously  consider  how  little  we  know 
of  the  entire  process  of  converting  food  into 
blood  and  chyle  and  muscle,  how  little  we  know 
about  how  words  and  facts  are  impressed  on  or 
held  by  memory,  in  short  how  little  we  really 
know  of  the  powers  of  our  organism  physically 
or  mentally,  we  ought  not  be  surprised  that  there 
are  controlling  forces  within  which  man  has  not 
fathomed,  and  which  are  set  in  motion  by  men- 
tal stimuli.  There  is  the  one  great  force  in  our 
being  which  physicians  recognize  as  vis  medica- 
trix  naturae  that  possesses  provisions  for  resist- 
ing and  arresting  disease  and  acts  quite  spon- 
taneously; hence  it  is  clear,  that  in  healing  by 
suggestion  this  energy  is  evoked. 

Passing  over  the  fact  that  our  knowledge  of 
man  and  his  possibilities  are  even  in  this  age 
only  partially  grasped,  the  study  of  suggestion 
without  hypnotism  has  taught  and  is  teaching  us 
how  to  heal,  how  to  unfold,  how  to  live,  how  to 
enjoy.  If  we  have  not  yet  unfolded  sufficiently 
to  grasp  the  delicate  philosophy  of  why  and  how 
suggestion  works  out  purpose,  we  have  learned 
how  to  use  it  for  the  attainment  of  wise  and  use- 


no  Man    Limitless. 

ful  ends  in  purposeful  living.  In  my  introduc- 
tion I  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  a  glance 
backward  over  life's  work  (whether  success  or 
failure  followed)  each  serious  move  or  act  could 
be  traced  to  a  suggestion  as  the  motive  cause. 
Following  that,  I  traced  through  the  best  author- 
ity with  which  I  am  acquainted  the  philosophy 
of  the  workings  of  suggestion  as  far  as  seems 
tangible  to  our  logic  with  our  present  develop- 
ment— especially  as  far  as  the  same  may  refer  to 
the  subject  of  healing;  and  now  I  turn  to  the 
making  of  practical  use  of  auto-suggestion  in  our 
upreaching  to  the  attainment  of  ideals. 

Henry  Wood  in  "Ideal  Suggestion  through 
Mental  Photography"  says:  "At  no  previous 
time  have  the  influence  and  potency  of  thought 
received  such  careful  and  discriminating  inves- 
tigation as  is  now  being  centered  upon  it.  While 
a  few  seers  of  keen  and  intuitive  perception  have 
grasped  the  great  fact  that  thought  is  the  uni- 
versal substance  and  basis  of  all  things,  never 
until  the  present  era  has  this  vital  truth  pene- 
trated the  more  general  consciousness.  The  in- 
tuitive comprehension  of  this  truth  is  no  longer 
limited  to  a  Plato,  Paul,  or  Emerson,  but  is 
grasped  by  many  minds  who  are  striving  to  give 
it  articulation." 

Power  can  never  be  increased  by  the  repeated 


Suggestion.  1 1 1 

retrospect  of  one's  blunders  and  failures.  They 
are  of  the  past;  and,  as  far  as  one  may,  should 
be  assigned  to  oblivion.  To-day  is  fresh  with 
promise  and  our  desire  and  the  work  between 
it  and  us  as  well  should  be  idealized.  Then,  the 
object  sought  and  the  path  to  it  become  doubly 
attractive  and  inviting.  We  can  forbid  the  pos- 
sibility of  failure,  by  holding  firmly  before  the 
mental  vision  the  ideal  of  what  we  are  striving 
for  as  a  prize  that  is  ours,  and  simply  waiting 
our  advancing  to  it  and  claiming  it.  Between  us 
and  the  attainment  sought  is  that  space  which 
often  intervenes  between  one  and  the  place  he 
desires  to  reach.  Distance  is  overcome  by  time, 
and  the  method  of  conveyance  is  the  measure  of 
the  time  required.  In  overcoming  distances  or 
spaces  which  may  be  classed  as  mental,  our 
thoughts  are  the  dray-horses,  the  steam  engines 
or  the  electric  motors.  We  can  control  thought, 
and  if  we  discipline  our  mental  faculties  to  do 
the  bidding  of  will,  we  shorten  the  distance  or 
time  between  us  and  our  purpose  by  discarding 
the  dray-horse  pace  of  thought  of  sluggish  men- 
tality by  bringing  to  it  the  finer  and  swifter 
vibrations  to  meet  the  demands  of  this  age  of 
steam  and  electricity.  Then  also  we  may  exult 
that  there  can  be  recorded  no  failures  as  we  work 
directly  forward  towards  the  goal,  being  merged 


ii2  Man    Limitless. 

with  ana  into  the  mental-building  thought  vibra- 
tions of  this  history-making  period  in  man's 
unfoldment. 

If  for  any  reason  health  has  been  impaired,  or 
if  one's  work  demand  severe  strains  on  his  phys- 
ical powers,  perfect  health  is  requisite  primarily 
for  the  attainment  of  purpose.  Reasonable  at- 
tention to  exercise,  and  systematic  arrangement 
of  hours  of  work  and  rest  should  be  given  of 
course;  and,  assuming  that  this  has  been  or  is 
being  done,  suggestion  can  be  appealed  to  to  do 
all  the  rest.  Let  one  take  a  half  hour  every 
morning,  and  sit  in  a  comfortable  position  with 
both  feet  resting  on  the  floor.  Let  him  take  sev- 
eral deep  breaths,  counting  eight  to  ten  in  in- 
haling and  the  same  number  in  exhaling.  This 
induces  passiveness  which  is  to  be  sought  first. 
Then  let  him  draw  an  ideal  photograph  of  him- 
self as  he  would  have  himself — that  is  really  his 
true  physical  self,  in  spite  of  the  mirror  declar- 
ing to  the  contrary.  It  is  not  a  change  of  the 
general  outline  one  desires,  but  a  filling  up  in 
places,  and  a  face  and  form  which  possess  and 
reflect  health  and  vigor.  Sitting  there,  let  him 
concentrate  on  that  mental  photograph  as  being 
a  perfect  reflection  of  himself.  Let  him  for  ten 
minutes,  at  least,  silently  repeat  some  phrases 
descriptive  of  this  ideal  self,  or  of  its  powers 


Suggestion.  113 

as  "I  am  perfect  in  vigor — perfect  in  health — 
perfect  in  the  entire  physical  being."  "I  can 
endure  the  greatest  of  mental  or  physical  tasks 
without  growing  weary."  "I  am  whole  and 
sound  in  every  part."  "I  dedicate  myself  men- 
tally and  physically  to  the  glorious  work  of  the 
advancement  of  man. ' '  These  or  similar  phrases 
will  fashion  themselves  in  language,  and  best  be 
spoken  silently  though  forcibly.  Then,  the  last 
ten  minutes  of  the  sitting  it  is  best  to  relax,  and 
quietly  contemplate  the  joy  when  the  end  is  at- 
tained and  victory  won,  yet  always  viewing  that 
time  as  not  distant  but  here  and  now. 

If  the  morning  half  hour  is  taken  for  health, 
then  give  a  half  hour  in  the  evening  or  middle 
of  the  day  (the  time  is  immaterial)  for  a  sitting 
to  fill  the  subconscious  mind  with  the  purpose  in 
view.  Breathing  exercises  should  always  pre- 
cede the  suggesting  of  the  ideal  to  this  other  self 
within.  Then  again,  let  one  draw  the  mental 
photograph  of  all  he  would  be — let  it  be  clear 
and  distinct,  let  the  face  outlined  show  the 
power,  dignity  and  manhood  that  belong  to  the 
one  possessing  the  attainment  desired.  Concen- 
trate upon  this  ideal  picture,  and  afterward  re- 
view it  passively. 

It  may  be  asked  if  there  is  no  other  work  to 
do  than  this?  I  reply,  of  course  there  is.  One 


ii4  Man    Limitless. 

must  do  the  work  required  to  gain  the  prize 
in  the  usual  way.  If  the  end  sought  is  that  of 
completing  a  college  course  of  studies,  one  will 
be  required  to  devote  the  time  and  energy  the 
curriculum  calls  for  to  study.  The  holding  of 
the  ideal  photograph  then  being  to  see  himself  or 
herself  a  graduate  (with  honors  if  desired)  with 
degree  won.  The  sending  of  the  suggestion  to 
occipital  consciousness,  or  to  the  subconscious 
mind — the  holding  of  the  mental  photograph  by 
objective  consciousness  and  impressing  it  by  so 
doing  upon  that  unexplored  region  of  mystic 
activity  are  the  required  acts  of  ours  to  lighten 
the  path  to  the  end,  to  aid  in  the  overcoming  of 
all  obstacles,  and  to  insure  the  attainment  of  the 
cherished  purpose. 

The  gaining  and  preserving  of  perfect  health, 
and  the  securing  of  a  broad  foundation  for  an 
education  are  after  all  but  starting  bases  in  the 
purpose  of  life.  They  are,  however,  elementary 
conditions  to  be  attained  that  more  serious  work 
may  be  done.  It  is  really,  after  all  this  is  passed, 
that  the  most  wonderful  power  of  suggestion 
is  made  manifest.  I  hinted  at  this  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  essay;  and,  running  through 
nearly  all  the  papers  in  this  volume,  the  reader 
v,*ill  find  I  claim  it  is  through  suggestion  that 
man's  power  has  grown  to  be  what  it  is  to-day. 


Suggestion.  115 

The  method  of  its  use  has  unfortunately  lacked 
system.  In  fact,  there  has  been  no  method  until 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Its  real 
power  was  not  understood,  and  its  philosophy 
is  still  involved  in  much  of  mysticism.  To-day, 
however,  we  know  noble  desire  to  embody  within 
itself  the  power  of  expression ;  and  that  that  de- 
sire can  by  objective  consciousness  be  impressed 
upon  subconscious  mind  (or  possibly  upon  sev- 
eral minds  or  selves  of  which  we  know  little),  and 
that  then,  it,  through  ways  and  avenues  we  know 
not  of,  works  out  the  problems  and  brings  us  the 
blessings,  if  only  we  do  with  willingness  the 
tasks  before  us,  holding  our  faith  perfect,  and 
keeping  our  mental  eye  firmly  fixed  upon  the 
goal. 

I  have  found,  and  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
others  as  well,  that  by  auto-suggestion  the  minor 
needs  and  desires  of  life  may  be  attained  as  well 
as  the  more  serious  ones.  These  results  may  be 
brought  about  quickly  when  once  one  has  learned 
how  to  plant  the  suggestion  in  the  gray  matter 
of  the  brain.  This  is  a  discipline  each  must 
undertake  for  himself.  The  method  herein  pre- 
sented has  brought  success  to  many,  but  probably 
other  methods  may  be  found  more  acceptable  to 
some  of  my  readers.  I  can  only  present  what  I 
have  absolutely  proven  to  be  practical.  I  have 


n6  Man    Limitless. 

learned,  also,  that  the  sending  forward  of  sug- 
gestion after  one  retires  and  just  before  sleep 
overtakes  him  has  repeatedly  proven  effective 
and  accomplished  the  purpose. 

I  feel  just  at  closing  that  I  may  add  one 
thought  in  way  of  possible  explanation  of  this 
silent,  wondrous  force  suggestion  sets  in  motion. 
The  physician  (as  far  as  pertains  to  healing) 
calls  it  vis  medicatrix  naturae,  the  theologian, 
God,  and  Herbert  Spencer,  a  part  of  that  great 
force  behind  all,  never  yet  fully  compassed.  May 
there  not  be  a  harmony  found  on  which  all  these 
conclusions  may  rest?  In  all  my  work,  I  have 
come  to  recognize  that  there  must  be  a  central 
force  working  out  unfoldment  to  all — a  force 
whose  only  purpose  is  good.  We  connect  our- 
selves to  that  force  though  we  may  not  compre- 
hend how,  because  there  are  vibrative  links  bind- 
ing us  to  it ;  and  yet  may  not  these  vibrative  links 
be  a  host  of  spirit  consciousnesses  which  form 
the  stations  (if  I  may  so  speak)  along  that  wire- 
less line  through  the  ethers  of  space?  In  all 
future  advancement  of  man,  he  must,  if  he 
would  progress,  take  into  account  the  force  or 
the  forces  on  the  other  side.  May  it  not  be  that 
they  directly  help  mould  longing  into  suggestion 
and  then  quicken  mentality  to  action  that  honors 
may  be  won  ?  Since  we  have  learned  as  much  as 


Suggestion.  117 

we  have  of  the  purpose  and  power  of  our  spirit 
guides,  can  we  help  but  believe  that  in  this  field 
they  find  work  in  which  they  delight?  Some 
day,  I  prophesy,  old  spirits  who  have  progressed 
far  will  return  to  us  here,  when  we  are  strong 
enough  to  understand ;  and  these  spirits  will  ex- 
plain mysteries  the  laboratories  and  telescopes 
have  not  unraveled,  and  they  will  also  bring  for- 
ward such  complete  proofs  of  their  eternal  vigi- 
lance that  man  must  accept,  and  then  we  all 
shall  know. 


' '  Old  Age  is  not  a  friend  I  wish  to  meet ; 

And  if  some  day  to  see  me  he  should  come, 
I'd  lock  the  door  as  he  walked  up  the  street, 
And    cry,    'Most   honored    sir!    I'm    not    at 
home.'  " 

— From  the  Japanese  of  Chisato. 


Man,  in  all  that  marks  his  individuality,  is  a 
reflection  of  his  thoughts  entertained  during  his 
lifetime.  They  stamp  on  his  face,  character, 
and  on  his  form,  vigor  or  decay. 

The  fountain  of  youth  was  sought  for  in  the 
past — to-day,  a  strong  intellectual  manhood  or 
womanhood,  till  one  feels  he  has  completed  his 
purpose,  is  the  desire  of  the  workers  in  the 
world.  Within  our  own  mentalities  is  the  crystal, 
life-giving  spring.  If  we  seek  we  shall  find. 


130 


MUST  AGE  ENFEEBLE? 

Back  of  all  science — I  might  say  back  of  all 
demonstrated  truth — there  was  a  record  man 
was  taught  to  reverence.  Between  man  and 
that  record  in  the  early  ages  there  was  a  priest- 
hood claiming  to  be  solely  responsible  for  the 
interpreting  of  it.  I  do  not  think  I  offend  any 
in  this  age  of  enlightenment  when  I  state  the 
fact,  that  that  interpretation  has  fettered  the 
ascent  of  man.  To  imply  there  might  be  error  in 
the  interpretation  exposed  man  to  punishment — 
to  prison  and  death.  One  looks  back  at  that 
period  of  history ;  and  noting  man 's  power  now, 
almost  wonders  that  he  evolved  so  slowly,  and 
that  the  revival  of  learning  or  the  ascent  of  indi- 
vidualism was  so  long  held  in  check.  A  little  re- 
flection, however,  makes  it  evident  that  man  was 
enslaved  by  those  who  honestly  thought  they 
were  laboring  for  his  improvement  and  growth. 
Ages  ago  there  was  a  mental  awakening,  but  the 
unfoldment  of  man  only  by  degrees  started  for- 
ward on  its  persistent  upward  trend. 

As  we  review  history,  and  exult  that  man  has 
progressed  to  independent  thinking,  let  us  not 
121 


122  Man    Limitless. 

lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  on  every  side  even  to- 
day, when  a  bold  statement  is  made  claiming  a 
new  demonstration  of  truth,  one  is  met  with  a 
quotation  from  the  Bible  asking  how  he  can 
reconcile  the  conclusion  with  that  record.  When 
in  college  over  thirty  years  ago  Professor  Alex- 
ander Winchell,  LL.  D.,  gave  us  a  series  of  lec- 
tures against  the  Darwinian  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, I  remember  he  prefaced  his  first  lecture 
somewhat  as  follows:  "If  my  great-grandfather 
was  an  oyster,  a  mollusk,  I  simply  want  to  know 
it.  If  this  is  proven,  and  it  does  not  conform 
to  the  present  interpretation  of  the  biblical  rec- 
ord, why  I  must  find  a  new  interpretation.  I 
will  not  stop  my  investigations,  because  they 
seemingly  lead  to  conflict  with  the  Mosiac  rec- 
ord." Then,  in  spite  of  this  strong  declaration, 
through  all  these  lectures  he  practically  claimed 
that  Darwin  suggested  in  reasoning  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown  what  might  possibly  be 
inferred,  but  he  emphatically  argued  that  Dar- 
win failed  to  furnish  us  with  the  satisfactory 
proofs.  Fifteen  years  later  I  picked  up  a  book 
of  his,  entitled  "Sparks  from  a  Geologist's  Ham- 
mer," and  read  "Evolution  is  now  a  finality  of 
science."  I  cite  this  incident  merely  to  give  at 
least  one  example  to  illustrate  that  in  our  own 
age,  man  is  not  free  from  dogmas  that  still  are 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  123 

reverenced  even  though  they  may  be  questioned. 
Dr.  Winchell  was  from  boyhood  deeply  reli- 
gious, but  he  was  an  able  scientist,  an  indefat- 
igable student,  and  an  honest  man.  His  hon- 
esty cost  him,  a  few  years  later,  dismissal  from 
a  professorship  in  a  sectarian  college,  his  special 
act  for  disfavor  there  being  a  course  of  lectures 
showing  the  days  of  creation  mentioned  in  Gen- 
esis could  not  be  taken  as  twenty-four  hours 
each,  but  that  each  represented  an  age,  a  series 
of  years.  To-day,  we  say  what  ignorance  and 
prejudice  this!  And  yet  this  incident  occurred 
less  than  thirty  years  ago. 

When  religious  bodies  meet  from  year  to  year, 
the  convention  is  not  called  to  inquire  if  any 
have  learned  a  new  truth ;  and  if  so  he  be  asked 
to  bring  forward  his  proofs.  Rather,  it  seems 
to  me,  these  conventions,  beyond  the  routine  of 
the  details  of  elections  and  the  providing  for  the 
administration  and  the  holding  together  of  the 
members  of  the  body,  are  to  inquire  if  some  of 
their  members  have  dared  to  utter  publicly  state- 
ments which  may  be  construed  as  not  being 
sanctioned  by  the  ritual  or  dogmas  of  the  or- 
ganization. If  complaint  is  filed  against  any, 
then  there  may  be  a  trial,  and  later  judgment 
and  probably  expulsion.  It  may  be  this  is  the 
only  way  to  protect  and  promote  the  society  or 


124  Man    Limitless. 

church.  I  do  not  pretend  to  answer  to  that ;  but 
I  feel  while  such  conditions  exist  that  the  growth 
and  ascent  of  man  will  not  be  promoted  by  any 
such  organization.  In  the  scientific  world,  there 
is  no  real  scholar  or  scientist  to-day  who  will  not 
turn  down  any  formula  or  accepted  finality  of 
the  past,  if  demonstration  is  brought  forward 
proving  it  error. 

Back  in  this  old  record  we  were  told  that  three- 
score and  ten  years  were  allotted  to  man — if, 
perchance,  he  should  reach  fourscore,  then  was 
there  labor  and  sorrow.  A  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  that  passage  has  found  lodgment  in 
human  minds  generally.  History  it  is  claimed 
has  shown  the  average  man  at  his  best  from 
forty  to  sixty-five,  and  that  usually  about  or 
shortly  after  the  age  of  sixty-five,  deterioration 
starts  in.  With  this  conclusion  written  in  bold 
letters  almost  like  a  placard  to  attract  attention, 
man  has  been  confronted  since  that  record  was 
made.  Many  other  conclusions,  once  equally  as 
firmly  held  to  be  truth,  man,  through  his  own 
inventions  aided  by  the  mathematical  tables  he 
has  made  and  the  laboratory  demonstrations  he 
has  brought  forward,  has  set  aside  as  fictions  of 
a  past  age.  Man  at  that  period  of  history,  as 
now,  looked  about  him,  and  found  in  plant,  tree 
and  animal  life,  the  age  of  development  for 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  125 

production,  and  from  that  time  he  observed  a 
steady  growth  till  the  maximum  of  power  and 
resistance  were  reached,  then  followed  gradually 
deterioration,  and  the  infirmities  of  age  and 
death.  He  compared  himself  to  the  life  about 
him,  read  the  record,  and  accepted  it  as  true. 
He  built  machinery  and  used  it,  and  proved  it 
had  a  life;  with  use  and  time  it  wore  out  and 
crumbled,  why  not  man? 

It  is  clear  that  man,  reasoning  from  the  lim- 
ited range  of  knowledge  he  possessed  at  the 
dawn  of  history,  could  come  to  no  other  con- 
clusion than  he  did.  The  proofs  about  him  were 
convincing  and  seemingly  absolute  to  his  dawn- 
ing intelligence.  With  this  conviction  firmly  es- 
tablished, the  generations  began.  Like  begat 
like  in  form  and  in  thought.  How  long  a  period 
of  time  passed  before  the  human  lifted  itself  to 
original  thought  we  may  not  know.  That  such 
a  time  did  arrive  we  do  know,  and  there  was 
found  the  individual,  asserting  and  claiming  the 
advancement  of  man  to  a  higher  plane  his  birth- 
right, and  there  too  were  found  the  multitude 
decrying  upliftment.  In  such  an  age,  at  least, 
it  is  most  evident  that  Matthew  Arnold's  "ma- 
jorities are  unsound"  would  apply. 

In  that  age  there  were  neither  dentists  nor 
oculists.  When  teeth  started  to  decay,  there 


126  Man    Limitless. 

was,  therefore,  no  dentist  to  be  called  in  to  ar- 
rest or  overcome  the  destroyer;  or  being  sought 
too  late,  to  place  artificial  teeth  in  the  mouth  to 
do  the  work  of  the  natural  ones.  When  the  eye, 
wearied  by  use  or  becoming  defective  from  any 
cause  failed  to  focus  perfectly,  its  possessor 
could  not  see  clearly  to  carry  himself  from  place 
to  place;  hence  he  moved  more  slowly  and  the 
chemical  constituents  of  his  bones  began  to 
undergo  a  change.  To  prolong  life  under  such 
existing  conditions  would  certainly  be  to  fill  it 
with  labor  and  sorrow.  Being  unable  to  prop- 
erly nourish  his  system  or  to  see  to  move  about 
and  among  people,  other  faculties  became  im- 
paired by  non-use ;  what  more  natural  then  than 
to  declare  death's  goal  had  been  reached?  To- 
day, we  have  learned  how  to  overcome  these 
physical  conditions,  so  that  at  this  period  of  life 
one  old  in  years  can  masticate  food  as  com- 
pletely and  see  as  perfectly  as  during  most  vig- 
orous youth. 

It  is  only  within  the  past  century  that  it  has 
been  demonstrated  that  the  entire  human  system 
is  year  by  year  throwing  off  and  taking  on  to 
such  an  extent  that  within  a  maximum  of  seven 
years  at  most  the  whole  physical  being  is  com- 
pletely changed.  Later  investigations  make  the 
term  much  less.  Flammarion,  I  believe,  limits 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  127 

it  to  ten  months.  As  to  the  length  of  the  term,  I 
do  not  argue.  The  maximum  limit  or  the  min- 
imum may  be  accepted.  The  fact  of  this  com- 
plete renewal  repeating  itself  at  short  periods 
of  time  proves  that  the  comparing  of  a  human 
being  to  a  machine  as  to  duration  of  life 
is  absurd.  Keep  renewing  the  worn  parts  of  a 
machine  as  they  lose  their  usefulness,  and  the 
machine  will  never  wear  out. 

As  I  endeavor  to  reach  back  in  thought  to 
that  early  age  when  that  combined  history  and 
prophecy  of  man's  allotted  term  on  this  earth 
was  written,  I  find  that  though  the  period  is 
distant  eons  from  primitive  man,  the  hu- 
man then  had  a  most  circumscribed  existence. 
He  to  an  extent  dominated  the  animal  kingdom, 
but  he  himself  was  not  free.  National  life  and 
all  its  joys  and  woes  had  not  yet  thrilled  the 
human  heart.  Ambition  was  almost  unknown. 
A  few  leaders  whose  power  was  a  development 
through  thought-force  assumed  control  of  the 
many.  To  that  few  a  gleam  of  light  had  come, 
for  evolution  was  even  then  at  work,  and  they 
thought  themselves  into  leadership,  boasting  a 
higher  origin  than  the  masses  whom  they  awed 
and  commanded  and  ruled.  To  extend  life 
was  not  a  thought  or  purpose  of  that  age;  but 
to  rule,  to  possess,  to  conquer,  and  to  enjoy. 


128  Man    Limitless. 

Age  after  age  has  succeeded,  and  man  in 
thought  has  claimed  more  and  more  in  way  of 
wealth  and  luxury  and  knowledge.  For  these 
he  has  often  sacrificed  health  and  peace  and 
happiness;  and  yet  he  has  advanced  to  a  high 
plane  of  intellectuality.  He  has  given  to  enjoy- 
ment a  thousand  meanings  his  ancestors  could 
not  have  imagined  to  be  comprised  within  that 
word.  He  has  entered  forbidden  fields  in  search 
of  knowledge,  and  from  them  has  culled  glorious 
truths.  He  has  learned  to  pierce  through  space 
without  limitations.  He  has  to  a  wonderful  ex- 
tent annihilated  distance,  and  talks  with  those 
separated  from  him  a  thousand  miles  and  more. 
He  seeks  for  treasures  hidden  beneath  the  once 
uncontrollable  waters  lying  below  the  expanse 
of  earth,  and  even  oceans  form  for  him  no 
fetters. 

During  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years  man  has 
been  thinking  more  of  the  necessity  of  maintain- 
ing good  health  and  of  preserving  a  vigorous 
manhood  than  at  any  period  of  his  history.  Suc- 
cesses having  been  won  that  place  him  on  a 
satisfactory  plane  financially,  he  studies  how  to 
enjoy  himself  there,  and  how  to  prolong  life 
to  extend  that  enjoyment.  He  has  been  told  re- 
peatedly during  the  past  quarter  century  that 
man,  as  to  all  that  constitutes  his  individuality, 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  129 

is  a  product  of  his  own  thoughts.  Proofs  of  this 
have  been  brought  before  him  so  complete  that, 
although  he  practically  accepts  them,  he  is  not 
always  ready  to  enter  into  the  discipline  neces- 
sary to  introduce  right  thinking  where  wrong 
thinking  has  brought  unhappiness  or  failure. 

Before  making  the  application  to  man  of  the 
philosophy  outlined  herein,  let  us  turn  for  a 
moment  to  the  development  and  decay  of  life  in 
a  few  of  our  domestic  animals.  The  offspring 
of  the  cow,  whether  male  or  female,  reaches 
maturity  in  a  single  year.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
we  find  that  bull  or  cow  still  in  vigorous  life, 
yet  its  age  then  represents  a  multiple  of 
twelve  from  maturity.  The  same  practically 
can  be  said  of  the  dog,  and  the  cat,  while  the 
hog  matures  earlier  and  lives  a  shorter  life,  and 
the  horse  matures  at  two  and  retains  his  vigor 
much  longer  than  the  cow.  In  human  beings 
the  average  age  of  passing  puberty  is  fourteen. 
If  the  history  of  domestic  animals  permits  us 
to  draw  any  inference  as  to  comparison  regard- 
ing age  of  deterioration,  then  man  at  twelve 
times  fourteen,  or  at  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-eight,  should  be  as  vigorous  as  the 
average  man  of  sixty  to-day.  I  do  not  say  that 
man,  as  to  age  claimed  to  have  been  allotted, 
should  be  brought  into  comparison  with  domes- 


130  Man    Limitless. 

tic  animals;  but  I  do  claim,  if  a  comparison  is 
to  be  made,  it  should  be  by  taking  multiples 
from  the  age  of  maturity. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  man  has  failed  to  take 
his  heritage  of  years,  if  it  be  true  that  so  far 
he  has  not  taken  it  ?  Is  not  this  question  already 
answered?  He  read  and  heard  the  record  ex- 
pounded to  him.  He  accepted  it.  He  studied 
himself  carefully  and  learned  the  age  of  bodily 
vigor,  of  mental  awakening,  of  physical  growth, 
of  early  and  ripe  manhood,  as  evidenced  by  man 
living  under  that  conviction.  He  fitted  these 
periods  to  the  years  allotted  as  given  in  the 
record,  and  went  forward  in  his  work.  In  his 
thought  were  fixed  his  probable  and  possible 
limitations  of  life.  In  going  forward  with  such 
fixed  ideas  of  the  limits  of  human  life  on  this 
planet,  age  will  and  must  bring  its  marks  and 
leave  them  impressed  on  one,  year  by  year,  be- 
ginning about  the  age  of  fifty.  Man  in  all  that 
marks  his  individuality  is,  therefore,  a  reflection 
of  the  thoughts  entertained  during  his  life-time. 
They  stamp  on  his  face,  character,  and  on  his 
form,  vigor  or  decay. 

Let  the  reader  call  up  in  memory  some  of  his 
old  friends.  Some  he  will  find  at  their  posts  in 
the  office,  shop  or  bank,  happy  and  joking  midst 
their  work  after  passing  the  fourscore  limit. 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  131 

Others  at  sixty  are  complaining,  weak,  sorrowful, 
out-of-tune  with  the  world,  or  tearfully  labor- 
ing and  striving  to  learn  how  to  get  to  heaven. 

I  remember  in  1895  my  professional  business 
brought  me  to  Augusta,  Maine.  One  day  a  gen- 
tleman with  whom  I  was  walking  halted  a  friend 
of  his  in  a  most  familiar  way,  saying,  "Wait  a 
moment,  Senator,  let  me  introduce  you  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  as  I  want  him  to  know  how 
young  some  old  men  can  be."  The  party  ac- 
costed awaited  the  formalities  of  introduction 
and  then  said,  ''Yes,  I  am  ninety- three  years 
young."  "And  when  did  you  begin  to  say 
'young'  instead  of  'old?'"  I  asked.  To  this 
he  replied,  "At  seventy."  I  looked  at  him  and 
felt  forced  to  remark,  "I  don't  believe  you  have 
grown  apparently  a  day  older  since  then."  He 
replied,  "I  certainly  don't  feel  that  I  have." 
This  gentleman  was  an  ex-U.  S.  Senator,  a  Mr. 
Bradbury,  who  a  few  years  ago  passed  over  to 
the  other  side.  He  had  never,  I  believe,  given 
advanced  thought  serious  study,  and  he  held  no 
theories  concerning  the  prolongation  of  life 
differing  from  those  around  him.  Did  the 
extending  of  life  with  health  come  from  the 
repeated  speaking  of  those  phrases  where  he 
united  his  ego  with  the  single  word,  young? 
Henry  Wood  would  call  it  ideal  suggestion. 


132  Man    Limitless. 

Through  this,  the  spiritual  ego  is  awakened  and 
consciousness  is  brought  to  a  conception  of  the 
real  divine  self  and  its  power. 

To  live  that  one  may  be  oblivious  to  years,  I 
claim  first  he  must  attach  no  importance  to  that 
old  record.  It  doubtless  represented  the  average 
age  man  lived  at  that  period  of  history,  but  that 
does  not  concern  us  now.  Next  to  this,  one 
should  recall  the  teachings  of  science  as  to  the 
renewal  of  our  bodies,  and  determine  to  fill  his 
mind  with  love  of  vigorous  manhood.  It  is  not 
perpetual  youth  we  seek,  it  is  vigorous,  unblem- 
ished and  unlimited  manhood  or  womanhood. 
This,  if  one  desire  it,  I  boldly  claim  is  attainable, 
because  it  is  one  of  the  possible  products  of 
thought.  It  is  yours,  reader,  to  claim  and  enjoy, 
if  you  will.  To  will  it  to  you  requires  daily 
thought  of  a  character  that  uplifts  and  never 
depresses.  Surely  such  delightful  thinking 
ought  to  be  no  task.  Does  one  ask  further  if  I 
fix  any  limit  to  the  time  man  may,  in  years  to 
come,  learn  to  hold  body  and  soul  together  and 
dwell  on  this  earth:  To  this,  I  reply,  I  fix  no 
limit ;  still,  when  I  take  note  of  the  great  battles 
each  will  fight  with  others  whose  thinking  is 
opposite,  and  knowing  the  mental  opposing  cur- 
rent to  be  met,  I  recognize  that  it  will  oppress 
many  in  their  efforts  and  possibly  prevent  their 


Must  Age  Enfeeble?  133 

reaching  the  advanced  limits  they  may  set. 
What  matters  it  after  all?  In  any  event,  by 
right  thinking  health  will  be  improved,  life 
lengthened,  some  victories  won,  and  a  new  truth 
in  due  course  of  time  demonstrated  to  aid  pro- 
gressive man. 

One's  friends  too  often  work  great  injury  to 
those  they  would  kindly  help  by  mentally  follow- 
ing them  and  looking  forward  to  their  failure  in 
this  or  that  undertaking.  If  one  does  not  agree 
with  the  course  his  friend  is  taking,  and  the 
friend  is  working  honorably  and  resolutely  as  he 
feels  is  best,  send  forward,  if  you  want  to  favor 
him,  thoughts  of  success  (you  may  be  wrong  in 
your  conclusions,  and  he  may  be  right),  and  then 
you  are  doing  your  part  to  help  him  onward. 

The  fountain  of  youth  was  sought  for  in  the 
past — to-day  a  strong,  intellectual  and  extended 
manhood  or  womanhood,  till  one  feels  he  has 
completed  his  purpose,  is  the  desire  of  the  work- 
ers in  the  world.  Within  our  own  mentalities  is 
the  crystal,  life-giving  spring.  If  we  seek  we 
shall  find.  If  with  age  come  enfeeblement  to 
one,  let  him  know  his  own  thoughts  have  brought 
it  on,  and  the  responsibility  is  his  alone.  With 
the  throwing  aside  of  all  thoughts  of  sickness 
and  failure  and  death  and  anxieties  concerning 
what  is  beyond,  I  would  urge  also  one  cultivate 


134  Man    Limitless. 

love  of  youth,  of  life,  of  work,  of  happiness  and 
of  progress.  These  are  aids  to  right  thinking 
along  the  line  that  strengthens  the  union  of  body 
and  soul;  and  a  firm  binding  is  needed  between 
the  physical  and  the  spiritual  that  one  may  com- 
plete the  full  cycles  due  him  on  the  earth  plane, 
in  order  that  he  may  enter  spirit  life  fully  pre- 
pared to  undertake  its  higher  lessons  which  can 
only  begin  when  freedom  is  absolute,  and  dis- 
tance, time  and  environment  have  been  anni- 
hilated. 


"Out  in  the  Future,  star-crowned  and  bright, 
"Waiteth  for  you  a  dawning  of  light. 

It  is  coining  to  you,  no  other  shall  prize 

The  glowing  tints  that  for  you  arise. 
On  your  path  alone  shall  its  light  be  shed, 
Ilium  'ing  the  way  that  your  feet  must  tread. 

Though  darkness  and  doubt  overshadow  just 
here 

Be    patient    and    trustful, — the    dawning    is 
near."  — Lillian  Whiting. 


135 


The  study  of  humanity  and  its  accomplish- 
ments shows  that  they  who  travel  the  pathway 
of  success  conjure  up  no  unseen  or  theological 
deity  possessing  power  to  thwart.  They  battle 
with  no  imaginary  enemy;  and  they  find,  com- 
bined with  potency,  a  divinity  in  their  own 
thoughts  and  purposes  which  directs  them  to  the 
attainment  of  worthy  ambitions. 


136 


PATHWAY  TO  ACCOMPLISHMENT. 

Among  all  men  and  conditions  of  men  we  find 
that  those  who  are  bewailing  their  fate,  or  as 
they  put  it,  the  way  the  world  has  treated  them, 
feel  in  their  hearts  they  have  not  received  and 
are  not  receiving  the  just  rewards  for  their  toil 
and  effort.  It  seems  that  many  become  profes- 
sional growlers  because  they  compare  their  work 
with  the  work  of  others  and  their  rewards  with 
the  rewards  of  others,  and  feel  themselves  over- 
shadowed. Were  these  people  to  look  back  over 
their  lives  and  trace  again  their  pathway  step 
by  step,  doubtless  they  would  find  that  early 
they  began  to  make  these  comparisons,  arriving 
at  conclusions  unfavorable  to  themselves.  As 
time  passed  on,  they,  by  an  unfailing  law,  grew 
bitter  through  such  habits  of  thought  and  speech 
and  became  more  vigorous  in  their  denunciation 
of  others,  who  were  seemingly  more  favored  by 
luck  or  fate,  and  life's  duties  became  to  them 
year  by  year  more  and  more  arduous  tasks. 

The  present  age  has  been  called  a  psychic  one ; 
and,  although  the  marked  characteristics  of 
every  age  may  be  distinguished  by  one's  ability 


138  Man    Limitless. 

to  appropriate  the  treasures  in  his  soul,  yet 
there  are  periods  when  the  soul  seems  more  re- 
sponsive to  objective  consciousness  than  at 
others.  That  period  has  been  entered  during 
the  last  decade ;  and,  for  the  next  ten  years  great 
progress  should  be  made  by  man  generally  be- 
cause he  is  becoming  acquainted  with  his  true 
selfhood  and  learning  to  use  powers  within  him 
which  have  been  dormant  till  now. 

I  do  not  want  to  offend;  but  the  elementary 
teachings  of  the  Christian  church  have  been 
promises  of  reward  for  good  work  and  punish- 
ment for  bad.  In  a  certain  sense  this  doubtless 
is  true;  but  when  these  theorists  make  Infinity 
a  personality,  who  himself  has  made  certain 
laws,  and  having  made  those  laws  demands  their 
being  obeyed  by  his  creations,  offering  reward 
if  they  are  kept,  and  assuring  in  the  same  breath 
that  punishment  will  follow  if  they  are  not,  then 
man,  following  that  philosophy,  must  lose  his 
own  individuality  and  independence  and  sub- 
ject himself  to  a  power  which,  as  defined  by 
orthodox  theology,  is  both  whimsical  and  tyran- 
nical. 

With  the  broader  views  of  the  present  age,  we 
hear  less  from  our  pulpits  of  the  punishments 
God  will  inflict  and  less  of  the  rewards  he  will 
give.  In  short,  in  spite  of  all  the  dogmas  re- 


Pathway  to  Accomplishment.     139 

ligion  has  been  called  upon  to  protect,  it  is  now 
beginning  to  be  recognized  generally  that  man 
must  indeed  work  out  his  own  salvation.  When 
a  broader  philosophy  is  embraced,  it  will  show 
that  the  infinite  force  of  the  universe,  whatever 
it  may  be,  is  always  working  for  the  progression 
and  advancement  of  every  thing  that  grows,  and 
every  being  that  possesses  life.  The  whole  pur- 
pose of  infinite  force  is  to  protect  and  to  unfold. 
If  humanity,  as  a  whole,  would  see  in  this  in- 
finite force  which  is  called  God,  an  undefined 
all-pervading  entity  beyond  man's  complete 
grasp  with  his  present  unfoldment,  but  yet  a 
force  to  which  he  is  bound  by  indestructible 
bonds  and  a  force  on  which  he  may  call  for  help 
and  aid,  because  he  is  one  with  it,  then  would 
man  realize  his  place  in  the  universe  and  grasp 
the  mightiness  of  the  absoluteness  of  law,  and 
of  eternal  justice. 

One's  growth  depends  upon  placing  himself 
in  harmonious  relations  with  this  infinite  force. 
How  long  it  may  take  for  man  to  outgrow  the 
environment  surrounding  him  and  to  fully  ap- 
preciate his  oneness  with  that  mighty  power 
which  protects  and  o'ershadows  all,  may  be  a 
question.  However,  to  me  it  seems  that  many 
who  are  known  as  advanced-thought  people  have 
already  reached  that  point,  and  their  thoughts 


140  Man    Limitless. 

are  being  suggested  to  human  minds  throughout 
the  world,  and  those  thoughts  are  taking  root, 
and  in  due  time  will  bear  fruit  for  all  who  think 
and  work  and  love.  Until  one  can  grasp  this 
truth,  I  cannot  see  what  hope  he  has  of  attain- 
ing his  desires,  except  by  the  hard  and  slow  and 
indefinite  methods  which  have  been  followed  so 
long. 

Could  man  awaken  to  the  fact  that  the  infinite 
force  of  the  universe  knows  only  love,  and  that 
its  one  purpose  is  to  uplift  those  who  come 
within  its  vibrations,  then  is  one's  own  thinking 
transformed  completely.  He  has  no  battle  with 
fate,  no  battle  with  fear,  no  battle  with  wrong. 
The  Infinite  is  sending  forth  its  vibrations  to 
help  him.  Whether  or  not  he  places  himself 
in  position  to  secure  this  aid  depends  in  no  way 
upon  the  Infinite — it  depends  only  upon  him- 
self. This  conception  of  infinite  force  I  recognize 
gives  one  the  poetic  view  of  God.  In  this  day 
of  advancement,  thinkers  claim  that  the  inspired 
writers  who  gave  us  this  poetic  idea  of  God  were 
those  who  harmonized  themselves  with  the  vibra- 
tions from  that  eternal  Source,  and  then  they 
received  and  presented  truth.  More  stoical  phi- 
losophers came  later,  and  in  their  cold  study  of 
humanity,  its  desires,  hopes,  failures,  rebuffs  and 
sufferings,  their  narrow  intelligences  divined 


Pathway  to  Accomplishment     141 

the  causes  of  all  these  to  be  the  acts  of  the  in- 
finite force  that  alone  decided  what  compen- 
sation was  due,  and  alone  possessed  the  power 
of  reward  and  punishment.  Reasoning  as  they 
did,  with  their  limited  and  circumscribed  intel- 
ligences, this  was  perhaps  the  best  they  could 
do  to  define  the  cause,  in  order  to  account  for 
the  effect.  To-day,  if  one  would  advance  he 
must  come  to  a  study  of  his  real  selfhood  and 
learn  from  the  open  book  of  life  that  is  before 
him.  The  book  is  wider  open  to  him  than  it  was 
to  those  early  teachers  and  students.  Man  has, 
by  evolution,  become  a  greater  and  a  grander 
being.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  man  of 
average  intelligence  to-day  possesses  millions 
more  of  brain  cells  than  he  who  embraced  the 
philosophy  of  that  early  day.  Truth  is  eternal, 
but  man's  comprehension  of  it  is  limited  and 
circumscribed  in  proportion  to  his  own  mental 
unfolding. 

As  long  as  man  recognizes  a  ruling  intelligence 
with  arbitrary  ideas  and  purposes  of  its  own 
regarding  man,  so  long  will  he  continue  a  strug- 
gle within  himself  for  advancement,  mingled 
with  doubt  and  fears  as  to  whether  or  not  he  is 
working  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  of  that 
all-powerful  ruler.  If  failure  come,  he  may 
ascribe  the  cause  to  be  that  his  hopes  and  ambi- 


142  Man    Limitless. 

tions  were  not  in  harmony  with  the  purpose  of 
the  Master.  Perplexed  with  doubt,  he  may  seek 
guidance  from  that  great  Unknown  by  methods 
handed  down  through  church  dogmas ;  and  after 
working  hope  into  half-belief,  he  thus  starts 
forward  to  accomplishment  with  questionings 
even  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  attainment  sought. 
He  feels  he  cannot  compass  infinite  mind,  he 
fears  to  oppose  it,  and  so  energy  is  scattered  for 
lack  of  concentration. 

The  study  of  humanity  and  its  accomplish- 
ments shows  that  they  who  travel  the  pathway 
of  success  conjure  up  no  unseen  or  theological 
deity  possessing  power  to  thwart.  They  battle 
with  no  imaginary  enemy;  and  they  find  com- 
bined with  potency  a  divinity  in  their  own 
thoughts  and  purposes  which  directs  them  to  the 
attainment  of  worthy  ambitions. 

Fear  conjured  into  an  entity  is  the  enemy 
of  progress,  the  opposing  factor  to  high  resolves, 
the  shibboleth  of  the  unsuccessful,  the  fiendish 
joy  of  the  cynic,  the  ghost  of  buried  dogmas,  and 
the  imaginary  foe  of  those  who  dare.  To  the 
brave  and  progressive  ones  who  work  for  uni- 
versal good,  there  is  no  real  opposing  force.  To 
the  brave  and  selfish  ones  who  work  that  they 
may  advance  by  defeating  or  blasting  the  hopes 


Pathway  to  Accomplishment.     143 

of  others,  there  are  opposing  forces,  seen  and 
unseen. 

One  may  and  must  in  his  pathway  to  accom- 
plishment leave  friends  behind  who  may  not  as 
yet  have  sought  or  grasped  the  truth  of  being. 
He  may  seek  the  companionship  of  those  on  a 
higher  plane  of  unfoldment;  but  never  advance- 
ment to  himself  by  trampling  on  the  rights  of 
others.  His  pathway  to  his  good  never  leads 
over  ways  that  interfere  with  the  desire  of 
others.  He  may  at  times  be  envied  by  those  who 
have  not  risen  to  a  comprehension  of  their  birth- 
right; but  they  cannot  harm  him  with  their 
vibrations,  if  he  has  harmonized  himself  with 
those  mightier  ones  that  bind  him  to  infinite 
force. 

The  primary  self-training  one  must  pass 
through  to  fit  himself  to  attain  his  heart's  de- 
sire is  that  which  will  lead  him  to  know  he 
could  not  have  the  desire  without  possessing  in 
his  own  mentality  the  power  to  convert  that 
desire  into  realization.  Many  assent  to  this 
proposition  when  it  is  presented  to  them,  but 
later  when  obstacles  appear,  doubt  and  question 
its  truth.  Here,  the  new  student  must  exercise 
the  greatest  care.  His  faith  in  this  elementary 
truth  must  be  firm  as  the  rocks;  and  this  faith 
he  must  establish,  if  he  would  win,  before  start- 


144  Man    Limitless. 

ing  on  the  quest.  Although  he  may  have  read 
what  many  have  written  on  this  subject,  he  yet 
may  not  be  fully  convinced.  Then  let  him  wait, 
stop  reading,  and  do  some  thinking  himself. 

Let  him  study  the  lives  of  those  about  him, 
as  the  examples  furnished  by  history  may  not 
appeal  so  strongly  to  his  reason.  Let  him  study 
the  peculiar  characteristics  of  his  friends  whom 
he  has  known  for  years.  Let  him  note  their  suc- 
cesses and  their  failures.  Let  him  note  how 
confident  some  of  them  were  of  their  power  to 
accomplish  what  seemed  to  be  the  impossible  to 
others  about  them.  Let  him  note  how  successes 
both  great  and  small  were  won.  Let  him  note  how 
others  whose  early  surroundings  promised  much 
of  success,  failed  to  gain  the  smallest  measure 
of  it.  Let  him  study  the  thoughts  each  and 
every  one  of  them  held;  and  he  will  find  that 
they  who  attained  their  desires  had  always  con- 
fidence in  themselves,  so  firm  that  it  could  not 
be  swayed  by  the  argument  of  others,  or  the 
trend  of  affairs  apparently  the  reverse  of  the 
expected.  They  who  won,  lived  and  wrought  in 
this  philosophy,  whether  they  had  or  had  not 
learned  its  alphabet. 

Let  him  study  also  the  men  of  achievement  of 
this  day  whose  record  is  an  open  book,  and  there 
he  will  find  that  their  achievements  have  over 


Pathway  to  Accomplishment.     145 

and  over  again  more  than  crowned  their  boldest 
desires.  With  attainment  of  desire  rose  before 
their  vision  new  desires — new  images  of  what 
they  might  be — and  they  progressed  higher  and 
higher,  till  the  godship-plane  to  which  their 
thought  had  pointed  them  had  been  gloriously 
won. 

After  all  this  reflection  and  preparation,  and 
after  establishing  the  faith  that  can  know  no 
wavering,  then  the  student  should  go  in  the 
silence  over  and  over  again,  until  he  has  crystal- 
lized his  desire  and  knows  it  to  be  a  heart  long- 
ing of  his  being.  Idle  dreams  of  wealth,  or 
power,  or  happiness,  or  success,  are  not  heart 
longings.  I  do  not  mean  to  be  understood  here 
that  there  can  be  but  one  real  heart  longing. 
There  may  be  many  longings,  each  worthy  and 
attainable — one  to  follow  the  other  in  succession. 
With  each  longing,  however,  must  be  coupled  the 
willingness  to  undertake  and  to  accomplish  the 
special  tasks  incident  to  the  technic  of  the  art 
or  subject  of  which  mastery  is  sought. 

This  preparatory  work  on  which  success 
hinges  has  a  two-fold  purpose.  First  and  fore- 
most, absolute  faith  is  to  be  fixed  in  one's  men- 
tality of  the  ability  within  himself  to  attain  his 
purpose.  This  faith  must  not  be  fixed  by  a 
study  of  the  beliefs  of  others;  but  by  a  mental 


146  Man    Limitless. 

process  each  must  pass  through,  appealing  to  his 
own  deductions  from  a  study  of  life's  open  book. 
Second,  with  faith  built  on  its  only  true  founda- 
tion, the  Known,  he  has  next,  in  the  silence,  to 
commune  with  his  own  soul  and  to  learn  its 
longings.  Doubts  as  to  the  certainty  of  accom- 
plishment, or  doubts  as  to  the  real  longing  of 
his  heart  can  never  again  arise  after  such  prep- 
aration. Such  certainty  will  fill  his  whole  being 
with  delight.  The  sunshine  becomes  more 
bright,  and  the  darkest  clouds  but  make  him  to 
glow  with  the  radiance  Knowledge  alone  dis- 
penses everywhere.  He  then  is  at  peace  with  the 
world — he  becomes  a  factor  for  good  within  it; 
and,  in  his  objective  consciousness,  love  begins 
its  mission  of  unfoldment,  as  he  joyously  jour- 
neys up  the  bright  pathway  now  known  to  him 
to  lead  to  the  happy  land  of  success.  Vibrations 
uplifting  are  felt  as  emanating  from  those  with 
whom  he  may  associate  or  meet,  other  vibrations 
more  powerful  still  reach  him  from  the  unex- 
plored region  of  unseen  forces  where  a  mighty 
band  of  the  cohorts  of  the  Infinite  work  with 
and  for  his  advancement,  his  glory  and  his 
honor. 


The  sun  is  set;  but  set  not  his  hope: 
Stars  rose;  his  faith  was  earlier  up: 
Fixed  on  the  enormous  galaxy, 
Beeper  and  older  seemed  his  eye: 
And  matched  his  sufferance  sublime 
The  taciturnity  of  time. 
He  spoke,  and  words  more  soft  than  vain 
Brought  the  Age  of  Gold  again  : 
His  actions  won  such  reverence  sweet, 
As  hid  all  measure  of  the  feat." 

— Emerson. 


No  secrets  of  infinity  are  now  beyond  the  pos- 
sible reach  of  human  intelligence  is  the  bold 
statement  of  the  advanced  thinker  of  to-day. 
Is  the  time  not  ripe  for  philosophers  in  this  age, 
to  plunge  into  the  heart  of  mystery? 


148 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  GODS. 

In  ancient  Japan,  those  who  became  renowned 
as  the  favored  or  honored  ones  were  deemed  to 
possess  some  mystic  force  that  enabled  them  to 
draw  fulfillment  of  their  desires  through  the 
messengers  from  Infinity,  always  presumed  to 
be  attending  upon  them,  and  so  they  were  distin- 
guished or  called  children  of  the  gods.  Egypt 
and  other  oriental  countries  made  a  similar 
classification  for  their  great  ones;  and  all  the 
learning  and  philosophy  of  modern  times  have 
not  sounded  the  depths,  nor  uncovered  the  mys- 
tery of  genius,  whether  found  in  statesmanship, 
invention,  sculpture,  painting,  music  or  poetry. 
Is  the  subject  too  subtle  for  philosophy  ? 

To  admire  and  understand  mastership  in  any 
field  of  action  requires  some  unfoldment  in  the 
same  direction.  This  opens  the  vista  of  appre- 
ciation and  enables  one  to  enjoy  the  work  of  the 
master.  All  admirers  are  inclined  to  throw 
around  him  a  sort  of  sacred  halo,  and  warn  the 
multitude  to  keep  its  distance  and  reverence  the 
mastership  reflected.  In  brief,  to-day,  as  in 
ancient  times,  the  development  of  the  genius,  in 

149 


150  Man    Limitless. 

whatever  field  he  may  grace,  is  seemingly  re- 
garded as  something  beyond  the  analysis  of 
logic.  Study  to  know  and  appreciate  his  work, 
says  his  devoted  biographer — that  only  is  your 
part. 

To-day,  one  seriously  seeking  his  own  un- 
foldment  will  not  be  led  from  his  purpose  by 
warnings,  come  from  what  source  they  may.  If 
it  be  granted  that  some  are  divinely  led,  there 
must  be  a  cause  for  this.  In  ages  past,  those  re- 
ceiving favors  from  the  gods  were  believed  to  be 
chosen  by  some  of  the  deities  to  carry  out  cer- 
tain ends  and  purposes.  In  modern  times,  all 
religions  centralize  power  in  One  (call  that  One, 
God,  Energy,  or  any  name  you  choose),  and  tell 
us  that  omnipotent  One  can  favor  whom  he  will. 
Why  this  one  or  that  one  may  be  favored  and 
chosen  as  a  man  of  destiny  is,  it  appears,  a  secret 
of  Omnipotence.  I  cannot  see  that  such  an  in- 
ference or  conclusion  shows  that  any  advance  has 
been  made  on  the  deductions  of  the  philosophers 
of  ages  past  on  this  subject  of  vital  interest  to 
humanity.  Then  they  had  gods  many,  and  one 
or  several  of  these  gods  made  the  selection; 
now  we  have  only  one  God,  and  he  makes  the 
selection.  Both  the  will  and  purpose  of  the  in- 
dividual are  taken  possession  of  by  a  mightier 
power,  and  these  are  directed  by  that  power  to 


Children  of  the  Gods.  151 

specific  ends  and  success  follows.  Others  of  in- 
defatigable industry  labor  and  reap  little  of  re- 
ward, because  it  appears  the  great  central  Being 
or  Force  has  not  elected  them  for  leaders.  Does 
this  seem  to  average  intelligence  fair? 

In  teachings  generally  it  is  claimed  that 
worthy  rewards  are  certain  to  follow  steadfast- 
ness of  purpose,  coupled  with  willingness  to  wait 
and  work.  But  when  one  attempts  beyond  the 
usual,  seeks  to  discover  the  unrevealed,  strives 
to  reach  heights  yet  unattained,  then  is  he 
warned.  A  few  only  are  selected  to  climb  the 
dizzy  heights,  he  is  told,  and  to  assume  to  be 
of  that  few  is  almost  arrogance — leave  that  en- 
tire mysticism  to  the  Infinite — it  is  impenetrable 
— it  is  one  of  his  secrets. 

No  secrets  of  Infinity  are  now  beyond  the 
possible  reach  of  human  intelligence,  is  the 
bold  statement  of  the  advanced  thinker  of 
to-day.  Is  the  time  not  ripe  for  philosophers, 
in  this  age,  to  plunge  into  the  heart  of 
mystery?  These  platitudes  about  Infinity  se- 
lecting are  inferences  from  a  worn-out  philos- 
ophy of  the  past.  Men  of  destiny  everywhere 
have  possessed  an  abiding  faith  in  themselves. 
Many  have  most  modestly  declared  that  they 
saw  their  duty  and  did  it,  and  that  was  all. 
Many,  on  the  other  hand,  have  declared  they 


152  Man    Limitless. 

were  directed  by  an  intelligence  in  a  manner 
beyond  their  comprehension,  and  that  to  this  un- 
known all  honor  is  due.  Modesty,  after  accom- 
plishment, ornaments  the  hero ;  but,  in  the  strife 
to  win,  he  felt  only  the  vibrations  of  "I  can" 
and  "I  will." 

Assuming  for  a  moment  that  God  does  make 
the  selection — that  the  genius,  the  hero,  the  in- 
ventor, the  discoverer,  is  one  of  that  great  fam- 
ily formerly  known  as  the  children  of  the  gods — 
may  there  not  be  a  reason  within  the  individual 
self  for  the  election  ?  Why  did  God  select  him  ? 
The  earnest,  thoughtful  man  feels  in  himself 
powers  he  is  not  using.  Sometimes  environment 
seems  to  forbid  their  use,  and  sometimes  oppor- 
tunity seems  wanting.  Why?  Who  controls 
environments  and  opportunities?  Man  or  God, 
— or  both  ? 

The  historian  or  biographer  reaches  to  grasp 
the  work  and  purpose  of  his  subject  and  his 
influence  upon  the  time  and  thought  when  he 
lived,  as  well  as  upon  succeeding  generations. 
If  the  biographer  be  of  a  metaphysical  turn  of 
mind,  he  may  strive  to  penetrate  the  inner  con- 
sciousness of  his  hero — to  discover  in  some  de- 
gree the  impelling  force  within,  back  of,  or 
around  that  hero.  From  such  biographers,  one 


Children  of  the  Gods.  153 

often  receives  valuable  suggestions  to  aid  in 
answering  these  questions. 

The  new  century  starts  with  thinking  man 
practically  unhampered.  He  is  open  to  test  new 
lines  of  development,  if  others  have  proven  them 
of  advantage.  He  is  no  beggar  for  favors,  but 
he  wants  his  own.  He  reads  the  accepted  con- 
clusions of  history,  and  these  tell  him  that 
fortune  is  often  won  without  effort,  that  fame 
comes  through  opportunities  the  recipient  did 
not  create,  that  success  is  a  bolt  from  the  blue  of 
heaven,  that,  in  the  great  treadmill  of  work, 
faithfulness  will  receive  fair  compensation  and 
that  this  should  satisfy.  The  children  of  the 
gods  will  obtain  the  crowns,  and  whether  he  is 
one  or  not,  time  will  reveal.  Are  these  conclu- 
sions wisely  drawn?  Let  us  in  the  light  of  the 
revelations  of  this  age  of  steam,  electricity, 
telepathy  and  untrammeled  thought,  run  over 
the  record. 

A  blacksmith  at  his  forge  hammered  sparks 
from  iron,  and  with  heat  and  hammer  moulded 
it  into  shapes  he  would.  Under  his  skill,  by  the 
employing  of  heat  and  force,  he  adapted  to  use- 
ful ends,  inert  material,  powerless  to  convert  it- 
self to  man's  needs,  but  powerful  in  itself  for 
them,  under  intelligent  manipulation.  Did  re- 
flection over  the  sublimity  of  this  work  rouse  dor- 


154  Man    Limitless. 

mant  brain  cells  to  action,  and  give  birth  to  new 
desires?  As  these  new  desires  dawned  on  that 
workman's  consciousness,  what  radiance  of  in- 
finite soul-light  filled  it  and  gave  him  control  of . 
the  keys  of  memory,  and  laid  her  treasures  open 
to  him  at  will?  Elihu  Burritt,  the  blacksmith, 
became  Elihu  Burritt,  the  linguist.  He  read 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  became  prac- 
tically master  of  nearly  all  the  modern  Euro- 
pean and  Slavonic  languages.  He  who  does 
this,  or  approaches  this  linguistic  mastership, 
has  made  memory  the  hand-maid  of  his  will. 
Did  God  select  Elihu  Burritt  to  teach  a  lesson 
to  you  and  me,  and  all  the  world?  And,  if  so, 
what  lesson  have  we  learned?  Man  has  been 
called  simply  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
God ;  shall  he  idly  wait,  like  the  crude  iron  slum- 
bering in  the  mountains,  for  a  greater  intelli- 
gence to  awaken  to  action?  If  we  must  be 
guided  by  that  greater  intelligence,  how  may  we 
know  when  it  speaks  to  us?  To  many  it  has 
spoken  in  dreams  and  visions  that  in  one  case 
changed  purpose,  in  another,  awoke  to  joy,  in 
another  warded  from  danger,  and  in  another  let 
loose  the  God-like  force  of  creative  genius. 

If  -we  all  agree  that  man,  in  moments  when 
active  consciousness  is  at  rest,  may  be  shown 
visions  of  what  he  may  be,  and  stimulated  to 


Children  of  the  Gods.  155 

grasp  the  unfoldment  they  promise,  then  the 
knowledge  we  seek  first  is  how  to  teach  conscious- 
ness to  harmonize  itself  to  receive  and  know 
these  directions. 

One  may  be  mentally  active  and  physically 
still,  or  mentally  passive  and  physically  active. 
He  may  by  discipline  make  himself  both  men- 
tally and  physically  still  at  the  same  moment. 
Elihu  Burritt,  as  I  understand  his  development, 
could  be  absolutely  passive  mentally,  when  strik- 
ing vigorous  blows  on  the  yielding  steel  or  iron. 
He  had  repeated  them  so  often  that  he  struck 
them  almost  automatically.  As  he  saw  new 
shapes  and  forms  moulded  under  these  blows, 
his  mind  was  receptive  to  vastness,  power,  na- 
ture, infinity,  God.  Unfoldment  came,  because 
he  had  erected  no  environments  or  limitations. 

Go  in  the  silence  as  all  great  prophets  and 
leaders  have  done,  and  there  commune  with  the 
Infinite.  In  that  sacred  hour  passively  drop 
your  beliefs — they  may  or  may  not  be  true.  Free 
your  minds  from  their  possible  fetters  and  open 
your  soul  to  receive  truth.  If  one  wants  any- 
thing, he  goes  out  and  seeks  for  it,  does  he  not? 
One  can  hardly  expect  it  to  come  to  him  unless 
he  asks  and  seeks.  Now  he  may  have  firmly 
entrenched  many  beliefs  in  his  consciousness 
that  are  not  true.  He  may  have  read  countless 


156  Man    Limitless. 

pages  to  prove  them  true ;  and  yet  if  he  bring  the 
light  of  law  and  evidence  upon  these  beliefs,  he 
will  find  their  foundation  to  be  the  supposed 
beliefs  of  some  other,  amplified  by  the  beliefs  of 
the  commentators  themselves.  These  commenta- 
tors may  mean  to  help  man  and  may  be  honest ; 
but  their  good  intentions  do  not  mean  that  their 
beliefs  are  true.  A  belief  may  be  true.  I  recog- 
nize that  one  may  be  almost  convinced  at  times, 
without  seeking  demonstration.  My  warning  is 
only  that  one  shall  logically  distinguish  the 
difference  between  a  belief  and  a  demonstrated 
truth,  and  always  remember  further  investiga- 
tions may  overthrow  the  half-accepted  proposi- 
tion. When  you  have  disciplined  yourself  to 
this  point  of  discernment,  your  mind  is  open  to 
receive  knowledge  and  to  attain  truth. 

In  the  compact  made  to  form  a  union  of  states 
that  a  nation  might  be  born,  our  patriots  met, 
filled  with  love  of  statehood  and  yet  possessing 
some  pride  in  the  possible  nation  to  be.  Many 
compromises  were  made — one  great  one.  When 
nearly  a  hundred  years  had  passed,  a  man  of 
humble  and  obscure  origin  appeared  and  said,  in 
substance,  that  a  perfect  union  and  a  lasting 
peace  could  only  be  secured  by  making  every 
state  a  slave  state  or  every  state  free — that  har- 
mony under  other  conditions  was  impossible.  He 


Children  of  the  Gods.  157 

who  said  this  had  had  a  public  life  of  but  one 
term  in  Congress,  and  some  prominence  as  a 
lawyer  in  a  western  state.  That  thought  aroused 
argument  and  set  statesmen  thinking  in  every 
corner  of  the  republic.  We  know  to-day  that 
that  utterance  was  truth.  It  was  truth,  but  a 
new  truth,  and,  therefore,  awoke  a  storm  of  op- 
position. Abraham  Lincoln  stated  that  proposi- 
tion, and  was  chosen  to  demonstrate  it  to  the 
world.  After  Lincoln  had  spoken  this  truth  he 
did  not  stand  idly  waiting  to  see  how  it  would 
be  received.  Down  in  his  soul  he  must  have  felt 
that  he  had  spoken,  and  that  through  him  must 
be  wrought  out  the  demonstration. 

Emerson  says  to  say  the  right  thing — to 
do  the  right  thing — at  the  right  time — that  is 
genius.  Lincoln  said  and  did  the  right  thing 
at  the  right  time,  and  fame  has  placed  him  at 
the  head  of  the  roll  of  our  honored  dead.  The 
lesson  you  and  I  may  draw  to-day  from  this 
life  is  that  Lincoln  was  always  conscious  that 
he  was  guided  and  led  by  infinite  energy.  He 
could  and  did  commune  with  the  Infinite.  He, 
like  Joan  of  Arc,  heard  the  voices  that  spoke 
truth,  he  trusted  the  messages  the  Infinite  sent ; 
and  the  whole  world  to-day  bows  as  Lincoln's 
name  is  spoken,  and  speaks  reverently  of  his 
wisdom  and  prophetic  utterances. 


158  Man    Limitless. 

A  love-child,  born  on  a  small  island  in  the 
Atlantic  ocean,  showed  precociousness  in  his 
early  youth,  courage  when  hurricanes  swept 
across  the  island,  and  an  indefatigable  longing 
for  education,  and  to  know  the  colony  growing 
up  in  the  western  hemisphere  under  England's 
fostering  and  semi-tyrannical  rule.  What  was 
it  that  whispered  to  the  boy  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, telling  him  that  his  future  and  his  destiny 
were  bound  up  in  that  far  away  colony?  How 
clearly  he  recognized  in  boyhood  the  training  re- 
quired to  fit  him  for  the  responsibilities  so  soon 
to  be  crowded  upon  him!  With  what  zest  and 
heroic  purpose  did  he  enter  upon  his  college 
studies,  attaining  high  rank  therein  and  com- 
pleting fours  years'  work  in  two.  He  felt  throb- 
bing about  him  the  duties  of  an  active  and  of 
an  eventful  life.  He  studied  the  course  of  that 
restless,  surging  thought-current,  breaking  down 
and  over  the  barriers  erected  by  superstition, 
might  and  wrong.  He  saw  that  strife  and  war, 
and  a  baptism  of  blood,  must  precede  the  birth 
of  a  new  nation;  and  so  closely  did  he  identify 
himself  with  that  nation  unborn,  that  only 
through  opposition  could  his  best  intellectual 
gifts  be  brought  into  expression. 

At  seventeen  he  wrote  papers  that  patriots 
thought  were  written  by  John  Jay — at  nineteen 


Children  of  the  Gods.  159 

he  was  captain  of  an  artillery  company  and 
winning  distinction  in  the  battles  of  Long  Island 
and  White  Plains. 

Before  the  altar  of  freedom  he  stood,  and  on 
that  sacred  shrine  he,  without  any  ambitious  or 
selfish  reserve,  cast  his  young  manhood  with  all 
its  hopes  and  promises.  He  entered  the  arena  of 
strife  and  dedicated  his  life  to  the  warfare  of 
controversy,  criticism,  enmity  and  hate. 

Think  of  a  young  man  only  seventeen  years 
old  who  graduated  from  college  to  draw  the 
sword  for  principle,  but  was  practically  taken 
from  the  field  when  only  twenty  to  be  the  Aide- 
de-Camp  of  Washington  with  rank  of  lieutenant- 
colonel.  Then  note  his  series  of  powerful  arti- 
cles in  the  Federalist,  immediately  after  the 
close  of  the  war,  educating  the  people  to  favor 
the  ratification  of  the  constitution;  and  later 
taking  the  portfolio  as  the  first  Secretary  of 
Treasury  of  the  new  Republic  and  showing  him- 
self master  of  the  situation.  He  had  had  no  ex- 
perience even  in  handling  large  commercial  ques- 
tions for  business  houses;  and  yet,  against  op- 
position, he  worked  out  a  policy  that  brought 
order  out  of  chaos  and  placed  this  country  on  a 
firm  financial  basis,  and  secured  for  it  credit 
with  the  nations  of  the  old  world.  Hamilton 
stands  out,  at  this  period  of  our  country's  his- 


160  Man    Limitless. 

tory,  as  the  one  genius  who  conceived  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  new  nation,  and  who  knew  by 
intuition,  that  to  endure,  its  foundation  must  rest 
on  the  indestructible  pillars  hewn  out  of  the 
boulders  of  sound  finance.  We  cannot  contem- 
plate the  upbuilding  of  this  nation  without  the 
genius  of  Hamilton.  This  man  of  destiny  never 
asked  to  be  told  where  he  might  work.  The 
whispered  breathings  of  the  Infinite  were  heard 
by  him;  and  though  his  work  was  beset  with 
opposition,  ridicule  and  danger,  he  plunged  into 
it  fearlessly,  because  he  felt  it  was  committed  to 
him  to  do,  and  he  was  always  ready  as  a  child 
of  God  to  answer  Duty's  call. 

Wagner  once  wrote:  "I  compose  for  myself; 
it  is  just  a  question  between  me  and  my  Maker. 
I  grow  as  I  exercise  my  faculties,  and  expres- 
sion is  a  necessary  form  of  spiritual  exercise. 
How  shall  I  live  ?  Express  what  I  think  or  feel, 
or  what  you  feel?  No,  I  must  be  honest  and 
sincere.  I  must,  for  the  need  of  myself,  live  my 
own  life,  for  work  is  for  the  worker,  at  the  last. 
Each  man  must  please  himself,  and  Nature  has 
placed  her  approbation  on  this  by  supplying  the 
greatest  pleasure  man  ever  knew  as  a  reward  for 
doing  good  work. ' '  Following  this  thought,  Wag- 
ner tells  us  in  unmistakable  language  that  he 
had  brought  his  conscious  self  into  communica- 


Children  of  the  Gods.  161 

tion  with  his  own  soul — that  soul,  the  real  self 
which  receives  the  whispered  breathings  through 
the  ethers  or  messengers  from  infinite  Energy, 
and  then  longs  to  give  its  wisdom  to  intelligence, 
had  become  dominant  in  his  consciousness;  and 
criticism,  censure,  abuse,  even  exile,  could  not 
change  his  purpose.  It  is  true  that  he  did  not 
hesitate  in  his  operas  to  sacrifice  every  precedent 
of  musical  construction  ' '  in  order  to  make  music 
tell  the  tale."  The  musical  world  had  to  be 
educated  to  a  new  school  of  music,  and  Wagner 
created  it.  The  pathway  of  the  children  of  the 
gods  to  the  paradise  they  seek  is  often  beset  with 
hardships  and  dangers — sometimes  the  paradise 
is  never  reached,  and  praises  are  only  sung  by 
coming  generations.  Wagner  worked  and  waited 
long  to  find  his;  and  age  and  burdens  had  fur- 
rowed his  face  with  lines  of  care  before  it  opened 
to  him.  Then  he  entered  its  portals,  and  there 
was  crowned  with  wealth  and  fame  and  love. 

Liszt  felt  harmonies  and  wrote  them,  know- 
ing they  must  be  expressed  from  the  key-board 
of  a  piano.  The  Infinite  had  sent  them  to  his 
soul,  his  soul  to  consciousness.  As  he  stretched 
his  small  hands  to  strike  the  chords,  and  pained 
those  muscles  to  do  the  bidding  of  Art,  he  must 
have  risen,  in  his  effort  to  express  the  melody 
within  himself,  beyond  the  physical  sense  of  feel- 


1 62  Man    Limitless. 

ing  or  the  tortures  he  might  inflict  later  on  others 
ambitious  to  play  his  compositions.  Beside  the 
joy  those  harmonies  give  the  world,  a  lesson  is 
taught  to  the  pupil  of  the  supremacy  will  may 
gain  over  the  muscles  and  ligaments  of  the  hu- 
man hand.  When  Art  seeks  expression,  it  will 
find  it.  Again,  one  is  told  of  the  error  of  assum- 
ing any  limitations  in  our  demands,  even  upon 
the  physical. 

A  little  reflection  upon  these  lives  and  the 
history  of  achievement  generally  will  serve  to 
convince  one  that  mental  mastership  in  any 
field  of  thought  is  sought  by  him  who  wins.  He 
learns  his  particular  place  or  field  of  work  by 
patient  self-examination  in  moments  of  stillness. 
In  these  silent  sittings  the  soul  longings  are  told 
to  consciousness.  One  must  repeat  these  sittings 
again  and  again,  until  clear  visions  of  the 
future  float  before  him,  and  until  he  will  men- 
tally see  himself  in  full  possession  of  all  that  is 
comprised  in  the  longing.  Then  he  may  know 
that  that  ideal  can  be  made  real.  He  may  then 
rank  himself  with  those  who  were  called  children 
of  the  gods  in  the  past,  and  who  are  called  to-day 
men  of  destiny;  but  let  him  remember  that  the 
gods  or  spirit  guides,  though  beckoning  him  for- 
ward with  positive  assurances  of  success,  leave 
much  for  him  to  do.  If  only  he  keep  his  eye 


Children  of  the  Gods.  163 

single,  fearing  no  devils,  and  holding  before  his 
mental  vision  the  purpose  sought  as  one  certain 
to  be  gained,  success  must  follow.  The  time  it 
may  take  will  depend  on  both  the  nature  of  the 
longing  and  upon  the  unwavering  faith  he  has 
fused  in  his  consciousness  by  suggestion.  When 
victory  is  certain,  it  is  puerile  to  demand  that  the 
exact  date  be  fixed. 

There  were  geniuses  in  the  past  that  vivid 
Eastern  imagination  named  offspring  of  the  gods, 
and  there  are  those  who  might  with  equal  justice 
be  called  children  of  the  gods  to-day;  and  these 
are  they  who  have  gained  through  discipline 
psychic  consciousness.  Let  me  be  clear  on  this. 
He  is  psychically  conscious  who  has  learned  to 
commune  with  his  own  soul — learned  to  receive 
the  messages,  directions  and  suggestions  from 
the  infinite  force  that  may  be  communicated  to, 
objective  consciousness.  He  has  bridged  the 
chasm  between  the  conscious  and  subconscious 
self,  and  even  caught  glimpses  of  the  subliminal 
beyond.  Within  the  human  heart  there  is  an 
inexpressible  longing  to  attain  its  good.  This 
longing  is  upreaching  to  wider  fields  of  useful- 
ness. Following  its  lead  and  direction,  creative 
genius  is  awakened. 

When  and  where  was  the  possibility  of  tele- 
pathy first  dreamed  of  ?  I  do  not  hesitate  to  ven- 


164  Man    Limitless. 

ture  a  reply  to  this  question,  though  I  know 
that  reply  cannot  be  verified  absolutely  as  the 
true  one.  Distant  from  all  known  methods  of 
communication  men  have  been,  when,  to  save 
their  lives  or  to  bring  good  to  another,  immediate 
communication  was  imperatively  demanded.  The 
soul  then  opened  itself  to  receive  anything,  every- 
thing the  infinite  force  of  the  universe  might  re- 
veal, and  consciousness  first  blindly  grasped  the 
message  sent.  Again  and  again  by  others  was 
this  longing  to  project  thought  repeated.  Then 
the  story  was  told — at  first,  half  doubtfully,  till 
science  took  up  the  problem  and  is  now  trying  to 
solve  it.  Telepathy  is  to-day  accepted  as  a 
method  of  communication  between  people  dis- 
tant from  each  other,  though  the  laws  governing 
it  may  not  yet  be  clearly  defined.  Here  we  see 
human  longing  telling  of  what  may  be;  and  I 
hold  a  true  human  longing  is  best  defined  as  a 
telepathic  message  from  the  Universal,  telling 
one  what  is  within  his  grasp. 

The  student  in  his  self-examination  must  learn 
to  distinguish  the  difference  between  his  fancies 
and  his  longings.  A  fancy  may  be  a  wish  of 
sense  for  the  moment.  It  is  a  fleeting  vision  at 
best,  and  quickly  lost  sight  of.  A  longing  of  the 
soul  is  an  inspiration — trusted  and  followed,  it 
leads  to  realization.  Your  longing  points  to  paths 


Children  of  the  Gods.  165 

you  may  tread.  Recognize  its  meaning  and  accept 
the  guidance  offered.  No  matter  whether  your 
work  seems  circumscribed  or  boundless  to  those 
around  you — it  is  everything  to  you — learn  what 
it  is — know  it  is  yours,  and  honor  it  as  it  honors 
you.  If  you  feel,  in  this  age,  that  the  being 
called  a  child  of  the  gods  or  a  man  of  destiny 
feebly  expresses  the  growth  you  perceive  as  your 
consciousness  recognizes  and  uses  its  power  to 
draw  from  the  Universal,  then  pierce  deeper  into 
the  future  and  see  the  glory  and  majesty  of  ulti- 
mate man — man  so  unfolded  that  he  blends  him- 
self with  infinite  Energy  and  stands  alone,  him- 
self a  god. 


"These  our  actors, 

As  I  foretold  you,  were  all  spirits  and 
Art  melted  into  air,  into  thin  air  : 
And,  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.     We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  on,  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep." 

— Shakespeare. 


167 


When  the  star  of  genius  first  rises  above  the 
horizon  and  he  catches  glimpses  of  it,  he  recog- 
nizes within  himself  the  spirit  of  daring.  In 
those  moments  of  upliftment,  the  new-born 
power  is  reflected  in  affirmations  declaring  the 
discoveries  of  selves  within  the  self.  In  divers 
ways  this  upliftment  comes  to  genius,  but  always 
bringing  to  him  confidence  of  the  power  of  mas- 
tery within  himself. 


168 


SHAKESPEARE'S  ARIEL. 

In  a  recent  number  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
there  was  published  a  speech  (taken  from 
Cabot's  Memoirs  of  Emerson)  written  by  Emer- 
son to  be  delivered  before  the  Saturday  Club,  on 
the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  Shakes- 
peare's birth.  This  speech  was  unintentionally 
left  in  his  library  on  that  evening  and  so  never 
delivered.  From  it  I  quote :  ' '  He  is  a  cultivated 
man  who  can  tell  us  something  new  about 
Shakespeare;  all  criticism  is  only  a  making  of 
rules  out  of  his  beauties."  And  yet,  implying 
that  there  must  always  be  something  new  to  find 
in  Shakespeare,  Emerson  adds,  "In  short, 
Shakespeare  is  the  one  resource  of  our  life  on 
which  no  gloom  gathers;  the  foundation  of  joy 
which  honors  him  who  tastes  it;  day  without 
night;  pleasure  without  repentance;  the  genius 
which  in  unpoetic  ages  keeps  poetry  in  honor, 
and,  in  sterile  periods,  keeps  up  the  credit  of 
the  human  mind. ' ' 

The  present  age  is  marked  as  one  where  man 
generally  is  found  doing  his  own  thinking,  in- 
dependent of  the  teachings  handed  down  from 

169 


170  Man    Limitless. 

those  who  were  called  sages  in  a  not  distant  past. 
This  age  is  proving  itself,  in  many  particulars, 
to  be  a  psychological  one.  Men  are  penetrating 
into  the  unfathomed  depth  of  human  possibili- 
ties. The  power  of  thought  to  direct  man  and  to 
bring  to  him  his  desire  is  the  foundation  pillar 
of  several  cults — some  of  which  already  assume 
to  be  new  schools  of  philosophy.  Notably  among 
these  we  find  the  Christian  scientist,  the  mental 
scientist,  the  hypnotic  suggester,  the  suggester 
without  hypnotism,  and  the  spiritist. 

During  the  past  fifty  years,  man  has  been 
developing  very  rapidly,  as  shown  by  his  accom- 
plishments in  science,  in  art,  in  education,  in 
inventions,  and  more  than  all,  in  general  human 
upliftment.  In  this  I  particularly  include  his 
ideas  of  the  right  of  nations  and  peoples  in  times 
of  war;  but  above  all,  the  right  of  man  in  his 
own  way  to  form  his  own  conclusions  as  to  the 
religious,  intellectual  and  moral  teachings  of  the 
past,  and  as  to  the  teachings  best  adapted  for 
him  to-day. 

Searchers  here  and  there  appear  from  time  to 
time  with  something  new  to  offer  about  Shakes- 
peare concerning  his  individuality,  his  life  and 
his  work.  He  stands  forth  to-day,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  learned  critics,  as  the  most  wonderful 
dramatic  artist  the  world  has  ever  known.  He 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  171 

wrote,  it  is  argued,  from  the  artistic  standpoint — 
he  wrote  to  please, — but  may  he  not  have  re- 
flected again  and  again  the  man  as  well  as  the 
artist  ?  May  he  not,  in  his  last  plays,  have  told 
secrets  that  have  been  overlooked,  that  this  age 
can  penetrate  simply  because  man  has  evolved  to 
a  higher  plane  of  penetration  than  was  attained 
by  those  living  in  an  age  of  less  unf oldment  ? 

The  last  four  plays  that  Shakespeare  wrote 
have  been  classed  in  this  order:  "Pericles," 
"Cymbaline,"  "The  Tempest"  and  "Winter's 
Tale."  Each  of  these  has  as  its  keynote  the 
beauty  of  forgiveness.  Those  who  have  delved 
deep  into  Shakespeare  regard  these  plays  as  sug- 
gesting the  peaceful  plane  he  had  reached  in 
life.  Controversies  did  not  trouble  him  then; 
enmity  and  jealousy  of  others  had  ended ;  he  had 
his  position  secure  in  the  dramatic  world ;  he  had 
acquired  an  ample  fortune.  As  he  turned  back 
to  rural  surroundings,  he  introduced  them  as 
scenes  in  some  of  his  later  plays,  showing  that 
his  heart,  in  ripe  manhood,  turned  back  to  boy- 
hood scenes  with  joy. 

Shakespeare  has  introduced  the  fairy  or  spirit 
element  prominently  into  but  three  of  his  plays 
— "Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "Macbeth," 
and  "The  Tempest"  In  "Midsummer  Night's 
Dream"  and  "Macbeth,"  the  spirit  force  deter- 


172  Man    Limitless. 

mined  the  action  of  mortals.  In  "The  Tem- 
pest," a  later  play,  Prospero  had  evolved  to  a 
plane  where  he  was  master  of  spirits  and  men, 
tides  and  tempests.  The  epilogue  is  very  sug- 
gestive; and,  as  my  proposed  paper  rests  upon 
that  as  its  text,  I  quote  it  entire : 

"Now  my  charms  are  all  o'erthrown, 
And  what  strength  I  have's  mine  own, 
Which  is  most  faint :  now,  'tis  true, 
I  must  be  here  confined  by  you 
Or  sent  to  Naples.     Let  me  not, 
Since  I  have  my  dukedom  got 
And  pardon 'd  the  deceiver,  dwell 
In  this  bare  island  by  your  spell ; 
But  release  me  from  my  bands 
With  the  help  of  your  good  hands : 
Gentle  breath  of  yours  my  sails 
Must  fill,  or  else  my  project  fails, 
Which  was  to  please.     Now  I  want 
Spirits  to  enforce,  art  to  enchant, 
And  my  ending  is  despair, 
Unless  I  be  relieved  by  prayer, 
Which  pierces  so  that  it  assaults 
Mercy  itself  and  frees  all  faults. 
As  you  from  crimes  would  pardon  'd  be, 
Let  your  indulgence  set  me  free. ' ' 

Moulton,  of  our  later  writers,  seems  to  have 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  173 

penetrated  part  way  into  what  Ariel  was  to 
Shakespeare,  yet,  to  my  mind,  stops  short  of  pur- 
suing the  investigation  to  the  heart  of  the  mys- 
tery. This  extract  from  Moulton's  "Shakespeare 
as  a  Dramatic  Artist"  will  serve  to  explain: 

''Shakespeare  has  made  Ariel  an  Elemental 
Being  of  the  higher  order,  identified  with  the 
upward-tending  elements  of  Air  and  Fire,  and 
with  the  higher  nature  of  man ;  and  he  has  made 
Caliban  an  Elemental  Being  of  the  lower  order, 
identified  with  the  downward-tending  elements  of 
Earth  and  Water,  and  the  lower  nature  of  man. 

"The  identification  is  too  detailed  to  be  fanci- 
ful. The  very  name  of  Ariel  is  borrowed  from 
air,  and  he  is  directly  addressed:  'Thou,  which 
art  but  air.'  The  identification  with  fire  is  not 
less  complete :  when  describing  the  lightning 
Ariel  does  not  say  that  he  set  the  ship  a-fire,  but 
that  the  ship  was  'all  a-fire  with  me': 

'Now  in  the  waist,  the  deck,  in  every  cabin, 
I  flamed  amazement :  sometimes  I  'd  divide 
And  burn  in  many  places.' 

We  can  see  in  him  just  the  qualities  of  air  and 
fire.  He  is  invisible,  but,  like  the  lightning,  can 
take  shape  as  he  acts.  Like  air  and  fire  he  can 
penetrate  everywhere,  treading  the  ooze  of  the 
salt  deep,  running  upon  the  sharp  wings  of  the 


174  Man    Limitless. 

north,  doing  business  in  the  veins  of  the  earth 
when  it  is  baked  with  frost.  His  natural  speech 
is  music,  or  waves  of  air.  His  ideas  are  the 
ideas  associated  with  the  atmosphere — liberty 
and  omnipresence:  to  be  'free  as  mountain 
winds,'  to  fly  on  the  bat's  back  merrily,  couch  in 
the  cowslip's  bell,  live  under  the  blossom  that 
hangs  on  the  bough.  Like  the  atmosphere  he 
reflects  human  emotions  without  feeling  them." 

Dr.  Furnivall,  in  his  introduction  to  the  Leo- 
pold Shakespeare,  tells  us  how  over  and  over 
again,  through  these  plays,  Shakespeare  reveals 
himself : 

"As  to  the  question  how  far  we  are  justified 
in  assuming  that  Shakespeare  put  his  own  feel- 
ings, himself,  into  his  plays,  some  men  scorn  the 
notion,  ask  you  triumphantly  which  of  his  char- 
acters represent  him,  assert  that  he  himself  is 
in  none  of  them,  but  sits  apart,  serene,  unruffled 
himself  by  earthly  passion,  making  his  puppets 
move.  I  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  all  the 
deepest  and  greatest  work  of  an  artist — play- 
wright, orator,  painter,  poet — is  based  on  per- 
sonal experience,  on  his  own  emotions  and  pas- 
sions, and  not  merely  on  his  observations  of 
things  or  feelings  outside  of  him,  on  which  his 
fancy  and  imagination  work.  Shakespeare  tells 
me  he  felt  hell;  and  in  his  Othello,  Macbeth, 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  175 

Lear,  Coriolanus,  Timon,  I  see  the  evidence  of 
his  having  done  so.  He  tells  us  how  he  loved  his 
friends,  as  with  woman's  love;  and  in  his  An- 
tonio— thrice  repeated — his  Helena,  his  Viola,  I 
see  his  own  devoted  love  reflected.  He  tells  me 
what  his  false,  swarthy  mistress  was ;  and  in  his 
Cleopatra,  I  see  her,  to  some  extent,  embodied. 
I  see  him  at  last  laying  bare  his  own  soul  as  he 
strips  the  covering  off  other  men's;  and  I  see 
him  at  last  passing  into  at-oneness  with  God  and 
man,  into  fresh  delight  in  all  the  glories  of  the 
outward  world,  and  the  sweet  girls  about  him  in 
his  Stratford  home.  Then  content  to  sleep.  And 
I  refuse  to  separate  Shakespeare,  the  man,  from 
Shakespeare,  the  artist.  He  himself,  his  own 
nature  and  life,  are  in  all  his  plays,  to  the  man 
who  has  eyes  and  chooses  to  look  for  him  and 
them  there." 

To  some,  this  bold  statement  of  Furnivall's, 
as  to  Shakespeare's  putting  himself,  his  own 
emotions  and  passions,  into  the  characters  in  his 
plays,  was  startling.  The  earlier  critics  were 
agreed  that  search  through  his  plays  did  not,  in 
any  way,  reveal  the  man  Shakespeare — his  char- 
acters were  clearly  denned  human  beings,  who 
lived  their  lives ;  but  in  all  that  they  did,  in  no 
way  gave  the  slightest  hint  of  the  innermost 
thoughts  of  the  Master  who  drew  them.  Lost 


176  Man   Limitless. 

in  the  greatness  of  the  art  of  Shakespeare  which 
his  masterly  types  reflected,  they  reached  to 
grasp  the  ideals  created  by  the  mighty  genius 
they  reverenced.  That  the  imagination  of 
Shakespeare  was  fed  and  nurtured  by  the 
thoughts  he  held,  by  the  longings  that  welled 
within  him,  by  the  ambitions  he  strove  to  realize, 
by  the  loves  within  himself,  did  not  receive  con- 
sideration at  all,  as  I  view  it,  from  these  earlier 
critics.  The  types  Shakespeare  presented  gave 
a  wide  field  for  study  that  they  might  be  clearly 
understood — the  critics  hardly  concerned  them- 
selves as  to  whether  the  Master  may  have  found 
the  models  within  or  without  himself,  but  as- 
sumed that  he  must  have  found  them  wholly 
without  himself.  To  my  mind,  the  "Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,"  his  first  fairy  play,  reflects,  in 
a  certain  sense,  the  religious  teachings  of  his 
time.  Beyond  man,  it  was  assumed,  there  was  a 
force  that  controlled  him.  Man  was  controlled 
against  his  will,  against  his  wish,  against  his 
purpose,  by  that  mysterious  force  which  serious 
writers  have  ascribed  as  belonging  to  a  personal 
God,  and  writers  of  a  livelier  and  happier  im- 
agination to  fairies  or  spirits  unseen.  In 
short,  that  play  to  me  reflects  the  younger  man 
who  has  accepted  the  philosophy  and  conclu- 
sions of  the  teachings  of  his  age.  Shakespeare 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  177 

had  not,  at  that  time,  become  in  any  sense  a 
serious  metaphysical  or  psychological  thinker. 
The  world  was  just  opening  its  portals  to  him 
and  all  was  new;  and  from  his  standpoint,  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  and  delightful.  In  "The 
Tempest"  we  find  the  work  of  the  master  genius 
— the  man  who  had  fought  and  won — the  man 
who  did  not  need  to  guess  what  mysteries  life 
held  for  humanity,  because  he  had  sounded  their 
depth. 

When  the  star  of  genius  first  rises  above  the 
horizon  and  he  catches  glimpses  of  it,  he  recog- 
nizes within  himself  the  spirit  of  daring.  In 
those  moments  of  upliftment,  the  new-born 
power  is  reflected  in  affirmations  declaring  the 
discoveries  of  selves  within  the  self.  In  divers 
ways  this  upliftment  comes  to  genius,  but  al- 
ways bringing  to  him  confidence  of  the  power  of 
mastery  within  himself. 

Socrates  recognized  a  spirit  force  near  him,  or 
a  spirit  presence — in  a  certain  sense  it  might 
be  termed  his  familiar,  speaking  in  the  language 
of  the  spiritist  of  to-day.  In  the  epilogue  to 
"The  Tempest,"  Shakespeare  bids  farewell  to 
his  fairy  hosts,  evidently  having  determined  that 
his  work  as  a  playwright  was  ended.  He  had 
done  his  work;  and,  as  Furnivall  most  happily 
puts  it,  he  was  content  to  sleep.  Ariel,  the 


178  Man    Limitless. 

Spirit  of  Air,  was  the  familiar  of  Prospero ;  and 
who  does  Prospero  stand  for?  Let  us  see. 

Prospero  was  wronged  by  his  brother,  consid- 
ering the  matter  in  a  worldly  way.  But  may  it 
not  be  that  there  was  a  guiding  force  around 
Prospero  which  saw  for  his  full  and  complete 
development  it  was  necessary  that  he  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  world,  in  order  that  that  full  un- 
f  oldment  might  come  ? 

The  university  men  led  by  Ben  Jonson  were 
envious  of  Shakespeare's  popularity.  "When 
they  could  harm  him  in  no  other  way,  they 
wrote  him  down  as  ignorant.  In  silent  moments, 
may  he  not,  with  his  awakening  power,  have 
appealed  (unwittingly,  perhaps)  to  the  encir- 
cling spirit  force  about  us  of  which  Longfellow 
speaks  so  eloquently  in  his  poems?  As  far  as 
history  shows,  Shakespeare  was  not  in  the  habit 
of  striking  back  when  blows  were  struck  at  him. 
Even  when  Pembroke  took  away  his  love,  how- 
ever much  it  may  have  stung  him,  it  did  not 
blunt  his  devoted  friendship.  Often  must  he 
have  felt  the  need  of  classical  training  when 
mingling  with  the  University  men.  Sometimes 
the  want  of  it  may  have  cast  dark  shadows  on 
his  life.  In  presenting  to  us  the  great  tragedies, 
there  is  no  doubt  but  at  that  period  he  passed 
through  all  the  hell  man  may  know,  and  per- 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  179 

haps  then  he  was  in  such  a  frame  of  mind  that 
he  almost  gloried  in  the  tortures  he  endured. 
Down  deep  within  him,  and  guiding  him  through 
this  awful  labyrinth  of  suffering,  may  there  not 
have  been  a  spirit  force  that  whispered  of  the 
infinite  growth  one  may  attain  who  successfully 
battles  with  prejudice,  opposition,  grief,  enmity 
and  hate?  May  it  not  be  true  that  this  spirit 
force  whispered  of  a  glorious  peace  beyond  that 
could  be  won  only  by  those  who  pass  through 
this  severe  school  of  discipline  without  losing 
faith  in  the  nobility  of  man  ? 

Hamilton  Wright  Mabie  recognizes  "The 
Tempest"  as  a  play  that  fashioned  itself  largely 
in  Shakespeare's  imagination,  and  then  signifi- 
cantly adds:  "The  profound  seriousness  of 
temper  which  pervades  the  play,  the  clearness 
with  which  its  ethical  bearings  are  disclosed,  the 
deep  philosophy  which  underlies  it,  carry  an  ir- 
resistible impression  of  something  personal  in 
the  theme,  and  the  treatment.  It  is  impossible 
to  read  'The  Tempest'  without  a  haunting  sense 
of  a  secondary  meaning."  *  *  *  "When 
Shakespeare  set  the  noble  figure  of  Prospero  on 
the  unknown  island,  and  made  him  master  of 
spirits  and  of  men,  with  a  knowledge  of  life  that 
was  so  great  that  it  easily  passed  into  magical 
art,  he  could  not  have  been  oblivious  to  the  spir- 


i8o  Man    Limitless. 

itual  significance  of  the  work,  nor  of  its  deep 
vital  symbolism  in  the  development  of  his  own 
mind  and  art." 

The  most  ancient  religions  taught  that  man 
was  dominated  by  an  infinite  power  to  which  he 
might  appeal  for  aid.  Out  of  these  religions 
grew  others  as  the  human  developed,  which  ex- 
panded the  love  element  in  the  infinite  and 
brought  man  in  closer  touch  with  this  central 
force.  Genius,  subtle  as  it  has  been  regarded, 
was  viewed  as  suggesting,  at  least,  the  God  with- 
in the  human.  In  some  mysterious  way,  it  has 
been  conceded,  the  genius  appropriates  from  or 
approaches  oneness  with  God.  Although  from 
pulpits  it  is  and  has  been  universally  proclaimed 
that  man  should  bind  himself  to  God  by  prayer, 
and  that  his  only  hope  for  health,  success  and 
joy  is  in  God's  mercy  and  love,  yet  the  clergy 
generally  have  been  slow  to  recognize  the  genius 
as  one  who  had  called  for  and  received  within 
himself  whatever  of  infinite  power  he  could  per- 
sonally absorb.  Often  the  genius  was  not  a 
prayerful  man,  often  decidedly  unorthodox,  and 
totally  ignorant  of  the  orthodox  methods  and 
ways  of  approaching  God.  Teaching  as  the 
clergymen  do  and  did  of  the  proofs  that  prayers 
were  answered,  they  are  yet  hardly  ready  to  de- 
clare with  Emerson  that  "there  is  no  screen  or 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  181 

ceiling  between  our  heads  and  the  infinite 
heavens,  so  is  there  no  bar  or  wall  in  the  soul, 
where  man,  the  effect,  ceases,  and  God,  the 
cause,  begins." 

The  philosophy  of  the  Hindus  teaches  them 
how  to  uncoil  the  wisdom  which  they  claim  is 
within  the  soul  and  bring  it  to  conscious  posses- 
sion ;  the  western  student  in  what  is  termed  ad- 
vanced thought  recognizes  a  universal  force  of 
which  he  is  a  part  and  studies  how  to  appro- 
priate from  it  what  he  would.  As  to  results 
sought  for  and  obtained,  there  is  after  all  a 
harmony  between  the  two  systems.  Whether 
the  wisdom  coveted  is  within  the  selfhood  and 
disclosed  by  discipline,  or  contained  within  an 
omnipotent  and  omnipresent  force  which  fuses 
itself  into  human  consciousness  because  of  faith- 
ful upreaching  on  the  part  of  man,  matters  lit- 
tle. Possibly  a  greater  unfoldment  may  dis- 
cern that  both  these  philosophies  are  true.  A 
genius  then  may  be  defined  as  one  who  learns, 
either  consciously  or  subconsciously,  how  to  ap- 
propriate the  wisdom  within  his  own  soul,  or  the 
wisdom  from  the  Universal  of  which  he  is  a  part ; 
or  better  still,  to  draw  from  either  or  both  these 
sources,  as  he  may  need. 

Shakespeare  as  a  worker  in  the  world,  among 
the  scholarly  dramatic  writers,  must  have  felt  a 


182  Man    Limitless. 

deep  longing  for  wider  culture,  broader  views 
of  humanity,  and  deeper  insight  into  the  mys- 
teries of  life.  This  longing  reached  beyond  the 
schools  and  beyond  the  libraries,  and  even 
pierced  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  human  heart. 
In  moments  of  silence,  such  longings,  modern 
philosophy  has  proven,  can  attract  from  with- 
out or  draw  from  within  the  knowledge  sought. 
To  some,  the  Universal  seems  to  blend  through 
sudden  flashes  of  thought  which  perception 
grasps — to  others,  fairy  spirits  seemingly  attend 
and  carry  the  messages  of  power  asked  from  in- 
finite force. 

"The  Tempest"  to  me  is  Shakespeare's  master- 
piece, and  here  he  laid  bare  his  soul,  and  told 
the  world  his  secret  longings  and  the  mystery 
of  their  fulfillment  from  the  infinite  source  of 
supply.  In  an  abstract  way,  Prospero  reflects 
himself,  his  ideal  self — the  man  who  won  by  the 
aid  of  the  infinite  force  of  the  universe  which 
he  commanded  through  its  faithful  couriers. 
Prospero  had  been  wronged  in  a  material  sense, 
and  through  that  wrong  Prospero  developed 
power  by  learning  in  the  silence  its  source. 
Armed  with  that  power,  he  dominated  the  ma- 
terial, harmonized  all  antagonism;  and  proved 
forgiveness  to  be  the  key-note  in  lifting  one  to 
clearly  understand  that  the  pulsating  energy  of 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  183 

the  Source  pervades  all  life  and  throbs  only  for 
the  good  and  the  upliftment  of  all.  Prospero 
did  not  send  his  longings  out  to  infinite  force 
through  vibrations.  He,  for  his  particular  de- 
velopment, seemed  to  prefer  to  direct  a  familiar 
who  though  real  to  him  could  be  unseen  to  others. 
A  familiar  or  messenger  who  could  awaken  those 
who  slept,  and  then  observe  them  on  waking,  and 
be  invisible.  He  was  a  part  of  the  Universal,  a 
breath  of  air,  ever  active,  and  as  subtle  and  cer- 
tain in  accomplishment  as  the  thought  vibrations 
we  now  recognize  which  bind  man  to  infinite 
knowledge  and  power. 

When  a  great  genius  reveals  himself  to  the 
world,  he  is  wont  to  do  so  by  symbols,  or  possibly 
I  might  better  say  by  parallels.  Those  who  should 
know  can  understand  by  following  what  he 
writes,  and  if  none  may  grasp  the  meaning  in  his 
day,  it  still  is  well,  for  the  time  may  not  be  ripe 
for  the  truth  to  be  known.  Through  the  ages  the 
great  ones  have  told  of  visions  seen  or  promises 
made  to  them  in  dreams  that  gave  them  courage 
to  work  and  dare;  and  yet  the  world  may  not 
have  then  been  ready  to  be  told  of  the  close 
union  between  man  and  God.  The  story  of  Joan 
of  Arc  was  younger  in  Shakespeare's  time  than 
to-day,  and  English  divines  recognized  in  it  a 


184  Man    Limitless. 

species  of  hypocrisy  and  witchcraft.  Shakes- 
peare could  hardly,  therefore,  speak  more  openly 
than  he  did,  and  yet  he  would  tell  his  contempo- 
raries of  the  real  source  of  his  success. 

The  play  was  called  "The  Tempest,"  and  yet 
it  was  a  tempest  that  did  no  harm.  It  was  a 
necessary  incident  and  perhaps  a  symbol  to  teach 
the  lesson  of  growth.  To  the  master  the  tempest 
had  long  been  passed,  but  as  he  recalled  the  hell 
of  suffering  which  he  had  endured,  and  later 
noted  the  rewards  it  had  brought,  he  knew  that 
through  it  was  the  path  to  a  holier  peace.  Pros- 
pero's  apparent  sternness  with  Ariel  only  re- 
flects the  firm  stand  one  must  take  who  reaches 
for  mastership.  He  draws  on  infinite  force  as 
he  requires — not  as  a  suppliant  beggar,  but  as 
one  who  knows  the  mystic  binding  through  the 
fatherhood  of  love. 

Some  of  the  critics  have  questioned  if  the 
Epilogue  was  Shakespeare's.  It  certainly  lacks 
the  general  characteristics  of  Shakespeare's 
mature  work;  and  the  thoughts  have  been 
classed  as  commonplace,  and  the  rhythm  un- 
Shakespearian.  Why  should  it  not  be,  and  yet 
this  epilogue  be  written  by  Shakespeare  and  be 
his  farewell  to  dramatic  work?  Do  not  the 
three  first  lines  give  us  the  key  ? 


Shakespeare's  Ariel.  185 

"Now  my  charms  are  all  o'erthrown, 
And  what  strength  I  have 's  mine  own, 
Which  is  most  faint. ' ' 

Following  this  line  of  reasoning,  I  conclude 
that  Shakespeare  linked  himself  to  the  Source 
through  spirit  guides  whom  he  saw  through 
clairvoyant  vision,  and  with  whom  he  conversed 
through  the  aid  of  clairaudient  hearing.  It  was 
his  method  of  appropriating  from  the  center. 
His  work  done,  their  mission  to  him  was  ended, 
and  his  charms  were  all  o'erthrown.  Ariel  was 
the  messenger  he  may  have  first  caught  glimpses 
of,  and  later  learned  to  command.  Ariel  to  some 
might  represent  subtle  vibrations;  but  to  one 
with  clairvoyance  and  clairaudience  developed, 
he  was  a  spirit  in  touch  with  the  Infinite — from 
that  force  a  subtle  mighty  power  is  ever  reach- 
ing out  to  aid  the  development  and  upliftment 
of  all  who  have  learned  man's  true  place  in  the 
great  cosmos,  and  who  not  only  feel  but  know 
the  eternal  Oneness  of  all  life. 


"We  see  but  half  the  causes  of  our  deeds, 
Seeking  them  wholly  in  the  outer  life, 
And  heedless  of  the  encircling  spirit  world, 
Which,  though  unseen,  is  felt,  and  sows  in  us 
All  germs  of  pure  and  world- wide  purposes. ' ' 

— Lowell. 


187 


From  the  earliest  revelations  of  man  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  writers  have  been  bold  in  ascrib- 
ing their  talks  and  interviews  with  spirits,  angels 
and  God.  They  seem  to  distinguish  between  good 
and  bad  spirits  and  place  the  angels  on  a  some- 
what higher  plane  than  that  of  the  spirits.  May 
it  not  be  possible  that  these  writers,  with  the 
unfoldment  which  had  come  to  them,  mistook, 
in  their  clairvoyant  visions,  exalted  spirits  that 
had  progressed  for  angels — even  for  God  ? 


188 


SPIRIT  AID  IN  MAN'S  UNFOLDING. 

When  the  earliest  church  called  Christian  was 
presented  to  us  by  authentic  history  as  formida- 
bly organized,  it  claimed  a  new  revelation  had 
been  received  from  its  founder,  whose  name  it 
bore,  and  it  taught  primarily  that  life  on  this 
earth  was  chiefly  to  be  regarded  as  a  preparatory 
school  to  fit  one  for  the  life  beyond  the  grave. 
Man  was  to  suffer  here,  and  the  greater  his 
suffering,  the  greater  his  reward  might  be.  With 
the  centuries  came  dissensions,  and  out  of  the 
Apostolic  Church  came  the  three  branches,  the 
Roman,  the  Anglican  and  the  Greek.  Out  of 
these  came  the  various  sects — all  claiming  to  be 
followers  of  the  same  founder,  but  differently 
interpreting  his  teachings  as  given  in  the  ac- 
cepted record.  These  various  churches  and  sects 
have  adapted  themselves  to  modern  thought  and 
civilization,  so  that  the  influence  of  some  one  or 
more  of  these  teachings  practically  covers  West- 
ern Europe,  North  and  South  America.  Differ- 
ing as  these  religious  bodies  do  in  forms  and  be- 
liefs, there  is  one  point  on  which  all  agree ;  and, 
because  of  that,  I  make  the  classification  so  gen- 

189 


190  Man    Limitless. 

eral.  Though  life  here  may  have  a  much  wider 
significance  than  the  early  church  originally  gave 
it,  all  these  branches  and  sects  teach  that  life  is 
immortal;  and  further,  that  one  carries  his  in- 
dividuality beyond,  because  he  may  again  meet 
and  mingle  with  those  he  loved  here.  When 
asked  for  proofs,  they  present  their  record,  their 
interpretation  of  it,  and  their  faith — proofs  fully 
demonstrated  they  have  never  assumed  to  fur- 
nish. With  the  unfolding  of  man,  can  any  be 
found  to  meet  his  demands  in  this  age  ? 

Much  older  than  the  religions  of  the  western 
world,  however,  was  the  belief  that  man  could 
draw  power  from  the  unseen.  He  in  former 
times  appealed  to  this  or  that  god  for  aid,  par- 
ticularly when  seeking  the  accomplishment  of 
great  tasks.  That  there  was  a  power  beyond  the 
human  on  which  man  might  draw  is  a  belief, 
therefore,  as  old  as  history.  The  religion  founded 
some  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  modified,  in  a 
way,  the  ancient  idea  of  the  source  of  power  and 
the  methods  of  approach  to  it;  but  it  did  not 
create  the  belief  in  man  of  the  existence  of  a 
power  beyond  on  which  he  might  draw.  That 
belief,  as  the  records  show,  seems  to  have  been 
accepted  on  the  part  of  the  human,  and  to  have 
been  co-existent  with  the  history  of  man. 

The  early  teachers  had  unfolded  to  a  point 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.   191 

where  a  multitude  of  gods  brought  mazes  of  en- 
tanglement to  their  logic ;  and  then,  in  the  trend 
of  intellectual  evolution,  the  host  of  Pagan  gods 
was  finally  displaced,  or  resolved  by  reason  into 
two,  and  these  represented  two  opposing  forces. 
So  much  of  wrong  and  evil  was  patent  to  their 
senses,  that  if  the  great  Good  (God)  all  powerful 
did  not  have  an  opposing  factor,  they  saw  no  way 
to  account  for  the  wrong  in  the  world  and  in 
the  minds  of  men.  They  who  did  good  were 
under  the  influence  of  the  good  God  and  he  trans- 
mitted power  to  them  to  overcome  evil.  They 
who  did  wrong  had  aid  from  the  evil  god,  called 
the  Devil,  and  he  willingly  was  contributing  of 
his  power  to  them;  and  so,  in  the  universe,  the 
battle  of  evil  against  good  was  continually  being 
waged.  Complete  conquest  of  good  over  evil, 
when  a  millennium  would  appear,  was  certain  to 
come,  but  far  remote. 

Modern  religious  teachings  are  amazingly  con- 
tradictory and  illogical  at  best.  God  is  on  one 
Sunday  a  God  of  love,  on  another  a  jealous  God, 
on  another  an  angry  God,  on  another  an  aveng- 
ing God ;  and  all  this  love  and  jealousy  and  anger 
and  revenge  he  feels  and  exercises  toward  what 
these  teachers  claim  is  the  crowning  masterpiece 
of  his  own  creations.  Such  a  conception  of 


192  Man    Limitless. 

Being  must  be  that  of  almost  primitive  man 
with  undeveloped,  unfolded  mental  faculties. 

In  this  day  all  stand  free  to  speak  their 
thoughts,  whether  they  conflict  or  not  with  creeds 
or  dogmas.  Standing  at  the  open  gate  between 
this  earth  life  and  the  spirit  life,  I  can  see  why 
from  paganism,  intelligence  seemed  to  have  taken 
a  great  step  in  advance  by  resolving  multiplied 
forces  into  but  two,  one  evil  and  the  other  good. 
Again,  I  recognize  these  old  philosophers  caught 
glimpses  of  truth;  but  when  they  or  their  fol- 
lowers presented  it  in  detail,  there  was  a  mysti- 
cism about  it.  The  logic  of  the  human  is  always 
limited  to  its  intellectual  grasp. 

From  the  old  oracles  of  Delphi,  one  learns 
that  those  versed  in  that  lore  were  sought 
to  tell  the  meaning  of  the  messages  received. 
Following  that  trend,  interpreters  arose  to 
explain  the  record  of  history  and  prophecy 
handed  down  to  humanity  as  authentic;  and 
these  interpreters  did  not  and  do  not  agree,  clear- 
ly proving  to  my  mind  that  the  environment  and 
mental  unfoldment  of  the  writer  and  the  inter- 
preter are  the  causes  of  disagreement. 

There  is  one  dominant  idea  which  pervades 
every  modern  religious  belief,  and  that  is  the 
necessity  of  sacrifice  to  attain  reward.  I  ques- 
tion if  this  did  not  arise  from  the  simple  fact 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  193 

that  one  must  always  pay  a  price  for  his  good, 
whatever  it  may  be,  and  the  price  paid  repre- 
sents the  sacrifice.  Passing  over  this  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  freeing  mind  from  all  thoughts  as  to 
whether  or  not  there  is  an  accepted  belief  one 
ought  labor  to  uphold,  let  me  consider  some  ex- 
periences and  some  of  the  messages  received 
through  human  instruments,  or  brought  by  shad- 
owy spirit  forms  in  person,  telling  of  the  life 
beyond ;  and  then,  it  may  be  that  a  new  interpre- 
tation of  this  record,  through  broader  mental 
unfoldment,  will  be  made  manifest. 

I  take  it  primarily  that  no  one  will  read  this 
paper  who  has  not  had  some  experience,  or  made 
some  acquaintance  with  the  conclusions  of  others 
in  their  studies  in  occultism.  I  will  not  refer, 
therefore,  to  a  long  array  of  names  of  those  who 
have  made  serious  investigations  in  occult 
phenomena  and  who  have  presented  us  volumes 
giving  the  results  obtained ;  but  will  assume  that 
my  reader  has  made  himself  familiar  with  at 
least  several  of  these  works,  besides  having  had 
valuable  experiences  of  his  own.  Presuming  all 
this  on  his  part;  and  further,  that  he  has  made 
himself  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  excellent 
work  done  by  the  Society  of  Psychical  Research 
in  these  lines,  I  feel  that  he  must  agree  with  these 
investigators  that  immortality  has  been  proven, 


194  Man   Limitless. 

that  life  is  continuous,  and  that  there  is  no  death. 
Further,  I  assume  that  he  will  agree  it  has  been 
proven  that  one's  individuality  continues,  and 
that  one  is  no  wiser  the  day  after  the  immortal 
part  passes  from  the  body  than  he  was  the  day 
it  left  it.  Believing  then  that  these  are  self- 
evident  propositions  to  my  reader;  and  further, 
that  progression  is  continuous  in  the  life  beyond, 
let  us,  as  preliminary  and  in  way  of  review,  pass 
before  our  minds  again  the  conclusions  of  some 
of  these  investigators. 

I  take  up  the  volume  "Miracles  and  Modern 
Spiritualism"  by  that  eminent  scholar  and  scien- 
tist, Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  D.  C.  L.,  LL.  D., 
and  read:  "How  valuable  is  the  certainty  gained 
by  spiritual  communications  may  be  gathered 
from  what  was  said  to  a  friend  of  mine  by  a 
clergyman  who  had  witnessed  the  modern  phe- 
nomena : — '  Death  is  a  different  thing  to  me  now 
from  what  it  ever  has  been ;  from  the  greatest  de- 
pression because  of  the  death  of  my  sons,  I  am 
full  of  confidence  and  cheerfulness;  I  am  a 
changed  man. '  This  is  the  effect  of  modern  Spir- 
itualism on  a  man  who  had  all  that  a  belief  in 
Christianity  could  give  him  before;  and  this  is 
the  answer  to  those  who  ask,  '"What  use  is  it?'  ' 
Summing  up  his  investigations,  Dr.  Wallace  con- 
cludes : 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.   195 

"We  have  now  to  explain  the  Theory  of  Hu- 
man Nature,  which  is  the  outcome  of  the  phe- 
nomena taken  in  their  entirety,  and  which  is  also 
more  or  less  explicitly  taught  by  the  communica- 
tions which  purport  to  come  from  spirits.  It 
may  be  briefly  outlined  as  follows : 

"1.  Man  is  a  duality,  consisting  of  an  organ- 
ized spiritual  form,  evolved  coincidently  with 
and  permeating  the  physical  body,  and  having 
corresponding  organs  and  development. 

"2.  Death  is  the  separation  of  this  duality, 
and  effects  no  change  in  the  spirit,  morally  or 
intellectually. 

"3.  Progressive  evolution  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  nature  is  the  destiny  of  individuals; 
the  knowledge,  attainments  and  experience  of 
earth-life  forming  the  basis  of  spirit-life. 

"4.  Spirits  can  communicate  through  prop- 
erly-endowed mediums.  They  are  attracted  to 
those  they  love  or  sympathise  with,  and  strive 
to  warn,  protect,  and  influence  them  for  good,  by 
mental  impression,  when  they  cannot  effect  any 
more  direct  communication. ' ' 

I  turn  next  to  Rev.  Dr.  Minot  J.  Savage,  whose 
work  to  discover  the  truth  or  falsity  of  Spiritual- 
ism has  been  most  painstaking  and  thorough.  In 
"Can  Telepathy  Explain?"  he  gives  numerous 
experiences,  from  which  I  quote  one.  "An 


196  Man    Limitless. 

English  girl  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  a 
young  American  who  had  been  a  student  abroad. 
They  had  met  at  Heidelberg.  He  died  suddenly 
after  returning  to  this  country.  She  came  over 
here  shortly  afterward  to  visit  his  mother.  While 
in  New  York,  she  went  to  a  medium.  There  was 
no  appointment  beforehand,  and  there  was  no 
way  by  which  the  psychic  could  know  who  she 
was.  Taking  her  turn,  she  sat  down  by  the 
medium,  who  went  into  a  trance  and  began  to 
speak.  Immediately  the  girl's  lover  claimed  to 
be  present.  He  told  her  a  number  of  things 
which  only  they  two  had  ever  known.  He  re- 
called circumstances  connected  with  their  ac- 
quaintance. Now,  it  so  happened  that  this  young 
lady's  father  was  an  English  officer  in  the  war 
in  South  Africa.  Among  other  things  which 
the  young  man  told  was  this.  He  said:  'I  am 
glad  that  I  have  been  able  to  save  your  father's 
life  once  or  twice  during  the  past  summer.' 
Now  comes  the  strange  coincidence,  if  coinci- 
dence only  it  be.  The  father  writes  home  from 
South  Africa,  being  entirely  ignorant  of  all 
that  had  taken  place  here,  and  relates  what 
seems  to  him  a  somewhat  remarkable  fact.  He 
tells  how  he  was  sitting  in  his  tent  one  day 
when  there  came  upon  him  suddenly  an  unac- 
countable impression  that  he  was  in  danger.  It 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  197 

was  as  though  someone  was  trying  to  make  him 
feel  this  and  induce  him  to  move.  So  strong  was 
the  feeling  that  he  got  up  and  went  over  to  the 
other  side  of  his  tent.  He  had  hardly  done  this 
before  a  shell  struck  the  chair  where  he  had  been 
sitting.  Had  he  remained  there  he  would  have 
been  instantly  killed.  Of  course  it  is  not  asserted 
that  this  is  anything  more  than  a  coincidence; 
but  the  suggestion  is  made  that  coincidences  of 
this  sort  have  been  so  very  frequent  of  late  as  to 
make  one  wonder  as  to  whether  there  is  not  some 
deeper  meaning  in  it  all." 

Later  on  in  this  volume  Doctor  Savage  sums 
up  his  deductions  as  follows:  "It  is  practi- 
cally true  that  all  men  everywhere  have  always 
believed  in  continued  existence  after  death.  It 
is  the  teaching  of  all  the  religions  of  the  world. 
It  is  bound  up  with  the  deepest  loves  and  dearest 
hopes  of  the  human  heart.  Now  if  this  hope 
have  a  substantial  basis — that  is,  if  all  the  people 
who  have  ever  lived  on  this  earth  are  still  living, 
and  if  they  are  not  far  away  somewhere  in  the 
deeps  of  space, — then  what  more  natural  than 
that  they  should  attempt  to  come  into  communi- 
cation with  and  influence  the  lives  of  those  whom 
they  used  to  know  here.  If  they  are  living  at  all, 
there  is  no  longer  any  reason  for  supposing  that 
they  are  away  off,  shut  up  in  certain  places 


198  Man    Limitless. 

called  heavens  or  hells.  This  earth  of  ours  is  as 
near  to  heaven  and  near  to  God  as  any  of  the 
planets  in  space.  There  is  no  reason,  then,  why 
we  should  suppose  that  the  former  inhabitants 
of  this  earth  may  not  be  near  to  us,  provided 
they  are  living  at  all.  It  is  within  the  limits  of 
the  conceivable  and  rational  also  that  they  should 
be  in  some  way  embodied.  Paul  said:  'There  is 
a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  pneumatical  body. ' 
I  do  not  offer  this  phrase  as  authority.  I  simply 
say  that  so  far  as  any  science  can  tell  us  to  the 
contrary,  it  may  be  true.  The  intelligence  which 
once  animated  the  body  of  a  friend  here  may  still 
be  the  animating  principle  of  an  ethereal  body 
unspeakably  more  real  and  powerful  than  that 
which  used  to  clothe  it,  and  still  it  be  not  cogniza- 
ble by  our  senses.  I  do  not  say  that  these  things 
are  so.  I  simply  assert  that  they  may  be.  The 
only  person  in  the  universe  which  ever  does 
things  is  either  a  human  being  or  a  being  with 
quasi-human  intelligence.  We  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  intelligently  exercised  force  except  such 
as  it  is  under  the  guidance  of  a  human  or  quasi- 
human  will.  I  submit,  then,  that  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  people  do  live  through  the  fact  of,  and 
after  death,  the  theory  of  their  agency  in  ac- 
complishing the  things  which  we  are  discussing 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  199 

is  much  more  simple  and  natural  than  any  other 
which  has  been  brought  forward." 

From  "Immortality  and  our  Employments 
Hereafter,"  by  the  eminent  occultist  and  trav- 
eler, Dr.  J.  M.  Peebles,  I  stop  to  take  three  brief 
extracts : 

''When  seen  that  every  atom,  every  pebble, 
every  mineral,  every  vegetable,  every  animal,  is 
insphered  with  its  own  aura,  you  may  under- 
stand that  there  is  a  talismanic  medium  of  invisi- 
ble communication,  detectible  by  sensitive 
persons.  Your  clothing  is  pervaded  by  your 
aural  emanations.  Consumptive  persons  weave 
sickness  into  their  garments.  Accordingly,  the 
vestures  of  the  sick,  as  well  as  old  tattered  gar- 
ments, should  be  buried,  or  burned." 

"Ancient  spirits,  when  descending  or  ap- 
proaching your  earth,  generally  prefer  not  to 
give  their  names;  they  also  dislike  to  have  their 
earthly  experiences  referred  to,  for  they  live 
more  in  the  present,  and  the  unfolding  future, 
than  in  the  past.  They  prefer  to  be  reticent. 
They  love  deeds  rather  than  words.  Whether 
ancient  or  modern,  spirits  differ  in  the  power  of 
vision  much  as  we  mortals  do,  the  more  exalted 
having  the  deeper  powers  of  penetration. ' ' 

"Spiritualism,  in  its  best  definition,  is  a  phe- 
nomenon, a  philosophy,  and  a  religion ;  the  latter 


2OO  Man    Limitless. 

its  chief  glory.  It  inspires  during  life  to  holy 
endeavor.  It  does  not  drape  the  mourner's  home 
in  gloom,  but  lifting  the  curtain  of  darkness, 
shows  heart-stricken  weepers  those  they  love — 
ay,  more :  it  brings  their  glorified  forms  into  their 
very  presence,  permitting  them  to  clasp  their 
white  hands,  and  listen  to  their  tender  musical 
words  of  undying  affection." 

One  of  our  latest  and  most  valuable  books  on 
mediumship  is  "Shadow  Land"  by  Mme.  E. 
d'Esperance,  published  in  London.  Here  this 
wonderful  psychic  tells  how  faithfully  she  la- 
bored to  obtain  the  truth  through  various  phases 
of  mediumship  that  came  to  her  without  seeking. 
Mme.  d'Esperance  placed  her  mediumship  at  the 
service  of  scientific  critical  observers  of  Ger- 
many, France,  Sweden,  England  and  other  coun- 
tries. Among  these  were  Hon.  Alexander  A. 
Aksakof — a  member  of  the  privy  counsel  of  the 
late  Czar  of  Russia,  "Shadow  Land"  has  been 
translated  into  French,  German,  Swedish,  Dutch, 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  Italian,  Magyar  and  Rus- 
sian. She  closes  this  volume  with : 

' '  Now  my  task  is  done.  They  who  come  after 
me  may  perchance  suffer  as  I  have  suffered, 
through  ignorance  of  God's  laws.  Yet  the  world 
is  wiser  than  it  was,  and  it  may  be  that  they  who 
take  up  the  work  in  the  next  generation  will  not 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  201 

have  to  fight,  as  I  did,  the  narrow  bigotry  and 
harsh  judgments  of  the  'unco'  guid.'  Still,  I  will 
not  wish  them  too  smooth  a  road,  for  it  seems  to 
me  that,  looking  backward,  I  find  the  troubles 
that  have  attended  my  search — and  they  have 
been  many — sink  into  insignificance.  Nor  do  I 
regret  them.  They  have  been  the  monitors  warn- 
ing me  that  I  had  wandered  from  the  right 
road,  and  though  I  knew  it  not  at  the  time,  were 
my  best  friends.  Now  at  last  I  have  found  what 
I  have  been  seeking  through  these  long  years; 
years  of  hard  work  interspersed  with  sunshine 
and  storms,  with  pleasure  and  pain;  now  I  can 
cry  aloud  in  jubilant  voice  to  all  who  will  hear : 
'I  have  found  the  truth' — and  the  same  great 
prize  may  be  yours,  too,  if  you  will  seek  it  hon- 
estly, earnestly,  humbly,  diligently.  This  one 
atom  of  the  living  truth  has  brought  me  that 
Peace  which  passeth  all  understanding,  and  by 
its  clear  light  I  see  and  know  that  spirit  com- 
munication is  true. ' ' 

Camille  Flammarion,  after  relating  a  remark- 
able case  of  the  successful  attempt  of  one  to  ap- 
pear before  another  by  will  and  be  seen  when 
separated  by  many  miles,  says :  "In  the  present 
condition  of  our  knowledge  it  would  be  absolute- 
ly foolhardy  to  seek  to  explain ;  our  philosophy  is 
not  yet  far  enough  advanced.  There  are  a  great 


2O2  Man    Limitless. 

many  things  which  we  are  forced  to  admit,  with- 
out the  power  to  explain  them  in  any  way.  To 
deny  what  we  cannot  explain  would  be  pure 
folly.  Could  any  one  explain  the  world's  system 
a  thousand  years  ago?  Even  now,  can  we  ex- 
plain attraction?  But  science  moves,  and  its 
progress  will  be  endless. 

"Do  we  know  the  whole  extent  of  the  human 
faculties?  The  thinker  cannot  for  a  moment 
doubt  that  there  may  be  forces  in  Nature  still 
unknown  to  us — as,  for  example,  electricity  was 
less  than  a  century  ago — or  that  there  may  be 
other  beings  in  the  universe,  endowed  with  other 
senses  and  faculties.  But  is  terrestrial  man  en- 
tirely known  to  us  ?  It  does  not  seem  so.  There 
are  facts  whose  reality  we  are  forced  to  admit, 
with  no  power  whatever  to  explain  them." 

Rev.  H.  W.  Haweis,  M.  A.,  late  Incumbent  of 
St.  James,  Marylebone,  London,  author  of 
"Music  and  Morals,"  "Thoughts  for  the 
Times, ' '  etc.,  in  an  address  on  ' '  Spiritualism  and 
Christianity,"  delivered  in  St.  James  Hall,  Lon- 
don, on  April  20,  1900,  boldly  declared  he  was 
a  Spiritualist,  and  that  he  was  particularly  in 
complete  harmony  with  the  proofs  brought  for- 
ward, that  the  status  of  the  soul  is  not  fixed  by 
death,  but  that  there  "is  unending  progress." 
He  closed  his  address  with:  "I  say  Spiritualism 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  203 

has  finally  taken  away  from  us  the  capricious, 
fanciful,  irrational  kind  of  God  who  is  supposed 
to  judge  his  creatures  in  a  way  that  would  be  a 
disgrace  to  a  common  magistrate,  without  intelli- 
gence, pity,  sympathy  or  knowledge ;  such  a  God 
as  had  revolted  so  many  sensible  religious  peo- 
ple, and  Spiritualism  has  done  away  with  him. 
Spiritualism  has  told  us  of  this  remedial  world 
beyond.  It  points  us  to  life,  not  death.  Yes,  it 
leads  us  to  the  center  and  source  of  life;  it  re- 
veals to  us  the  bright  galaxy  of  ministering  spir- 
its, the  Jacob 's  ladder,  that  reaches  from  earth  to 
heaven,  and  upon  which  the  angels  of  God  are 
ascending  and  descending.  Spiritualism  has 
given  us  back  our  Bible,  given  us  back  our 
Christ,  given  us  back  our  immortality,  and  given 
us  back  our  God. ' ' 

I  have  been  liberal  in  making  these  quotations, 
and  yet  many  others  seem  to  crowd  upon  me  for 
place  in  this  paper.  The  work  these  scientists, 
these  scholars,  these  psychics  did  to  learn  the 
truth  brings  unfoldment  to  all  who  travel  over 
the  same  paths.  From  childhood,  each  new  truth 
learned  enlarges  the  intellectual  vision  and  the 
possibilities  of  the  individual.  If  the  time  has 
now  come  that  one  can  step  over  the  border  line 
and  commune  with  intellects  that  have  been  long 
in  the  spirit  world,  there  progressing  and  adding 


204  Man    Limitless. 

to  their  knowledge,  may  not  this  prove  to  be  the 
real  source  or  fountain  of  supply  to  which  man 
should  learn  to  come  ?  Plow  often  have  we  lifted 
ourselves  up  to  it  subconsciously!  How  often 
have  we  felt  the  blessing  was  sent  from  God ! 
Sometimes  we  felt  less  bold  and  ascribed  it  to 
luck  or  coincident.  When  no  explanation  for  an 
effect  appears,  man  has  been  quite  ready  to  ac- 
count for  it  by  naming  it  a  strange  coincident. 
In  short,  humanity  seems  to  hesitate  to  say,  "I 
confess,  I  do  not  know. ' '  Many  things  that  occur 
seem  so  natural,  in  the  trend  of  human  events, 
that  we  accept  them  as  matters  of  course;  and 
yet,  if  asked  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  effect, 
the  average  answer  would  be,  "I  do  not  know — 
it  may  be  God. ' ' 

About  fifteen  years  ago  I  commenced  my  in- 
vestigations in  occultism  with  the  express  inten- 
tion and  purpose  and  expectation  of  proving 
the  phenomena  had  only  an  existence  in  minds 
being  acted  upon  by,  or  acting  under  some 
hypnotic  influence.  As  time  went  on  and  I  saw 
and  read  more,  I  began  to  comprehend  that  the 
greatest  intellects  of  modern  times  had  wrestled 
with  these  questions  and  had  given  their  verdict 
that  this  phenomenon  was  true.  Although 
some  of  their  experiences  were  very  remarkable, 
and  their  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect  most 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  205 

convincing,  I  found,  in  order  to  convince  myself, 
I  had  to  pass  through  similar  experiences  before 
I  could  accept  and  know  their  conclusions  to  be 
true.  Having  done  this,  I  found  other  questions 
crowding  upon  me.  I  found  a  spirit  force  on  the 
other  side  making  strange  predictions  and  these 
were  later  verified,  not  only  to  me  but  to  others. 
I  received  through  mediums  communications 
from  those  claiming  to  be  spirit  guides,  giving 
me  warnings  and  advice  which  were  exceedingly 
valuable.  I  found  at  other  times,  through  the 
same  sources,  that  positive  promises  of  accom- 
plishment would  not  be  made,  but  assurances 
were  given  that  that  unseen  band  were  there 
striving  to  help  and  that  they  would  do  all  they 
could  to  grant  the  wish  desired.  I  then  ques- 
tioned them  as  to  what  I  should  do  in  order  to 
receive  their  best  help,  and  the  substance  of  their 
replies  could  be  put  into  a  few  words — "Be  pa- 
tient— wait — trust. ' ' 

After  regular  sittings  with  a  select  few  with 
one  medium  for  five  or  six  months,  and  then  with 
another  and  another  medium  for  about  the  same 
time,  I  obtained  some  very  valuable  data  con- 
cerning the  rapid  progress  of  some  in  spirit  life 
to  higher  conditions,  and  of  the  power  to  bring 
in  the  aura  of  a  mortal  ancient  spirits  who  also 
claimed  to  have  passed  through  many  incarna- 


206  Man    Limitless. 

tions.  These  ancient  spirits  have  brought  to  the 
circle  an  electric  current  of  intensity,  sometimes 
accompanied  by  a  waft  of  cold  air  that  would  al- 
most make  every  sitter  shudder  when  it  struck 
him.  We  learned  that  when  these  ancient  forces 
were  added  to  our  bands,  more  power  to  assist  in 
the  accomplishing  of  purpose  was  given.  Through 
some  mediums  we  received  from  the  ancient 
guides  valuable  counsel  and  advice,  through  oth- 
ers they  came  in  materialized  forms.  One  of 
these  gave  a  series  of  talks  and  lectures  on  the 
power  of  thought  to  dematerialize,  and  to  gather 
the  atoms  together  again,  reproducing  flowers 
before  us.  In  one  cabinet  two  spirits  have  often 
come  to  me,  and  to  this  day  do  meet  me  there, 
both  claiming  to  be  planetary  spirits,  one  from 
Mars  and  the  other  from  Jupiter.  At  the  same 
cabinet  I  meet  whenever  I  go  one  who  claims  to 
be  my  wife's  brother;  and  he  tells  me  he  has 
taken  great  interest  in  my  investigations.  He  has 
told  me  that  he,  since  going  to  the  other  side,  has 
visited,  on  several  occasions,  both  Jupiter  and 
Mars.  When  I  asked  him  for  information  con- 
cerning the  people  who  dwell  on  these  planets, 
he  replied  that  this  information  he  hoped  to  give 
me  a  little  later.  To  use  substantially  his  own 
words  he  said,  ' '  You  cannot  know  what  force  we 
have  to  use  to  hold  ourselves  so  we  can  appear 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  207 

and  speak  to  you.  As  we  repeat  these  manifesta- 
tions we  find  we  come  with  more  and  more  ease 
and  that  we  can  say  more.  I  expect  in  good 
time  I  will  tell  you  fully  of  all  my  journeyings 
through  the  planentary  world ;  and  then  you  will 
better  understand  my  work  here,  and  how  ab- 
sorbingly interested  I  am  in  it  all. ' ' 

I  finally  determined  upon  a  line  of  investiga- 
tions quite  different  from  that  of  any  of  the 
writers  I  have  quoted — quite  different  from  any 
experiments  I  had  ever  heard  of.  I  arranged, 
through  a  private  medium  whom  I  found  a  most 
wonderful  instrument,  to  have  a  series  of  regular 
weekly  sittings  at  which  only  four  persons  should 
be  present,  the  gentleman  and  his  wife,  my  wife 
and  myself,  with  the  object  to  learn  more  in  de- 
tail concerning  the  spirit  world  and  how,  if  possi- 
ble to  avail  ourselves  of  spirit  help  in  daily  life. 
More  than  seven  years  have  passed  since  we 
started  on  these  weekly  sittings,  and  my  notes 
now  cover  several  thousand  pages.  Much  of 
what  these  sittings  have  taught  me  I  am  not 
ready  to  give  to  the  public  as  yet  and  shall  not 
be  for  at  least  a  year  or  two,  as  certain  work  is 
going  on  that  it  will  take  time  to  complete.  When 
that  work  is  accomplished,  I  will  in  a  detailed 
way  tell  more  of  these  sittings,  their  purposes, 
teachings  and  lessons.  Suffice  now  to  give  a  few 


208  Man    Limitless. 

experiences  and  some  of  the  messages  received, 
together  with  some  pertinent  suggestions  as  to, 
and  on  what  I  base  the  conclusions  drawn  from 
these  and  other  of  my  investigations. 

Practically  it  will  be  noted  by  the  reader  that 
the  serious  part  of  my  work  commenced  after  I 
had  reached  a  point  where  my  convictions  were 
in  harmony  with  those  of  the  writers  from  whom 
I  have  quoted.  Having  proven  that  they  who 
knew  us  here  could  come  near  us  at  will,  after 
they  passed  over  to  the  other  side,  and  could  look 
further  into  the  future  than  we,  I  concluded 
their  messages  could  assist  in  directing  in  the 
material  and  intellectual  affairs  of  life.  That 
through  such  assistance  and  guidance,  one  could 
be  saved  from  many  errors  and  strengthened 
often  in  times  of  need.  I  then  devoted  myself  to 
the  study  of  what  was  required  of  us  on  this  side, 
in  order  to  give  our  guiding  band  on  the  other 
the  opportunity  to  reach  our  consciousnesses,  so 
that  we  could  receive  the  message  from  them  and 
know  the  source  from  which  it  came. 

Through  repeated  tests  it  was  proven  to  me 
that  there  is  a  willing  band  of  spirit  helpers 
shaping  our  destiny  by  reaching  out  beyond  our 
physical  or  mental  range  and  bringing  to  us  the 
aid  we  need  to  accomplish  purpose.  Over  and 
over  again  was  it  proven  to  me  that  this  force 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  209 

was  the  motive  cause  for  tlie  attaining  of  a 
cherished  wish — for  the  complete  fulfillment  of  a 
desire  of  the  heart.  So  forcibly  did  the 
realization  of  this  truth  come  at  times,  that 
I  have  found  myself  almost  in  amazement 
saying,  why  this  force  is  what  the  devout 
have  named  God  and  to  whom  they  pray!  As 
my  experiences  went  further,  however,  I  recog- 
nized there  were  limitations  seemingly  of  spirit 
power;  and,  like  the  great  scientist,  Herbert 
Spencer,  I  was  forced  to  recognize  that  back  of 
these  spirit  bands,  ourselves,  all  life  and  creation, 
was  a  central  power  or  force  never  compassed, 
never  half  comprehended — the  Source  of  all.  As 
I  reflected  on  this  and  recalled  how  confidently 
many  modern  preachers  referred  to  God's  pur- 
pose, God's  way,  God's  methods  of  reward  and 
punishment,  as  if  they  could  grasp  the  pulsating 
thought  at  the  center  of  life,  a  clear  light  came, 
showing  that  according  to  his  degree  of  unfold- 
ment,  man  had  mistaken  from  time  to  time  some 
one  of  the  spirit  host  for  the  Infinite  himself. 

From  the  earliest  revelations  of  man  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  writers  have  been  bold  in 
ascribing  their  talk  and  interviews  with  spirits, 
angels  and  God.  They  seem  to  distinguish  be- 
tween good  and  bad  spirits,  and  place  the  angels 
on  a  somewhat  higher  plane  than  that  of  the 


2io  Man    Limitless. 

spirits.  May  it  not  be  possible  that  these  writers, 
with  the  unfoldment  which  had  come  to  them, 
mistook  in  their  clairvoyant  visions,  exalted  spir- 
its that  had  progressed  for  angels — even  for 
God?  May  it  not  be  that  those  called  inspired 
writers  were,  in  reality,  what  to-day  we  would 
call  advanced  mediums  who  dedicate  their 
psychic  gifts  to  truth  ?  When  passive,  mediums 
have  waited  for  some  spirit  from  the  spirit  realm 
to  reach  their  consciousness,  and  over  and  over 
again  other  spirits  than  those  expected  have 
entered  their  aura,  claiming  to  be  this  or  that 
one,  and  given  messages  of  strange  and  confusing 
natures.  Well-developed  mediums  who  cling 
close  to  truth  learn  how  to  prevent  these  spirits 
from  controlling  or  confusing  them  by  directly 
asking  aid  from  the  guides  whom  they  have 
learned  are  worthy  of  absolute  trust.  Unfortu- 
nately, there  are  many  mediums  who,  in  a  trance 
state,  open  wide  the  door  for  any  spirit  to  enter. 
Such  mediums  bring  to  the  sitter  often  the 
strangest  and  most  unintelligible  messages.  I 
have  sometimes  felt  that  these  undeveloped,  un- 
disciplined mediums  were  the  sport  of  the  lower 
spirits  that  had  ascended  from  mortals  who 
passed  from  the  earth  plane  before  they  had 
learned  anything  of  the  depth  and  beauty  of 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  211 

meaning  reflected  from  the  lives  of  those  repre- 
senting progressive  humanity. 

I  have  boldly  stated  here  some  conclusions,  as 
it  would  be  out  of  the  province  of  this  paper  to 
go  over  the  work  of  years  in  detail  to  present  all 
the  premises  upon  which  they  are  based.  Still, 
some  experiences  must  be  related  to  give  my  in- 
ferences weight  to  the  reader. 

As  we  went  on  with  our  sittings,  I  was,  of 
course,  having  other  sittings  with  other  mediums. 
In  fact,  each  of  us  four  took  occasion  often  to  do 
this.  Sometimes  the  messages  received  in  sit- 
tings with  other  mediums  were  only  in  symbols, 
and  these  were  interpreted  at  our  own  table. 
Again,  strange  clairvoyance  would  be  experi- 
enced by  our  principal  medium  and  a  note  made 
of  it.  Later,  its  meaning  and  purpose  would  ap- 
pear— often  relating  to  the  good  of  another  and 
in  no  way  connected  with  us.  One  illustration  of 
this  kind  which  interested  us  all  (and  yet  for  a 
time  seemed  purposeless)  I  will  relate.  We  had 
just  placed  our  hands  on  the  table  one  evening 
when  our  medium,  who  is  also  a  prominent  phy- 
sician, said:  "Let  me  relate  a  strange  experience 
I  had  to-day.  In  fact,  I  seem  to  be  called  upon 
to  do  this.  I  was  in  a  street  car  and  saw  a  young 
lady  enter,  leaning  on  crutches.  The  vision  was 
very  real  and  I  rose,  offering  her  my  seat.  She 


212  Man    Limitless. 

smiled  and  disappeared,  and  then  I  resumed  my 
seat,  recognizing  that  I  had  mistaken  a  clair- 
voyant for  a  real  vision."  We  all  searched  our 
memories,  but  none  of  us  could  remember  of  hav- 
ing any  young  lady  relative  or  friend  who  was 
so  afflicted,  and  who  had  passed  to  the  other  side 
of  life.  I  however  made  note  of  the  incident. 
Nearly  six  months  after  that  the  physician  told 
us  when  walking  up  the  street  he  had  distinctly 
heard  one  walking  on  crutches  behind  him  and 
his  mind  recalled  the  vision  above  related.  He 
said  the  thumping  on  the  side-walk  was  very 
pronounced,  and  he  also  thought  he  heard  the 
rustle  of  a  lady's  skirts.  Turning  around,  noth- 
ing was  to  be  seen.  On  several  other  occasions, 
as  months  went  by,  he  heard  the  thumping  of 
crutches  and  caught  glimpses  of  the  face  now 
clearly  defined  in  his  consciousness.  He  related 
these  incidents,  and  added  that  the  meaning 
must  appear.  He  questioned  if  it  were  a  warn- 
ing that  one  present  at  the  table  might  suffer 
accident.  This,  he  added,  would  hardly  be  the 
purpose  of  the  vision,  for  the  face  of  the  lady 
was  clearly  impressed  on  his  mind  and  she  bore 
no  resemblance  to  any  one  he  had  ever  seen. 

About  one  year  after  the  street  car  incident,  a 
lady's  maid  called  at  his  office  one  morning,  ask- 
ing him  to  come  to  a  house  he  had  never  visited, 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  213 

and  she  gave  a  name  he  had  never  heard.  As 
lie  looked  up  he  saw  clairvoyantly  the  crippled 
lady  behind  his  caller  bowing  and  smiling  at  him. 
This  maid  told  him  that  she  was  sent  to  call  him 
on  account  of  a  young  lady  who  was  seriously  ill 
with  nervous  prostration — that  this  lady  had 
been  growing  much  worse  of  late,  and  that  one 
of  his  patients  (whose  name  was  given)  had 
recommended  him.  Upon  reaching  the  young 
lady 's  room,  he  found  her  almost  in  delirium  and 
striving  to  break  away  from  her  nurse  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  throwing  herself  out  of  an 
upper  story  window.  As  the  Doctor  entered  he 
saw  again,  clairvoyantly,  the  young  lady  on 
crutches  standing  at  the  head  of  the  bed  bowing 
and  smiling  at  him.  He  noted  that  upon  taking 
hold  of  the  patient's  wrist  to  count  the  pulse 
beats,  she  immediately  grew  calm  and  remained 
so  during  his  visit  while  he  diagnosed  the  case 
and  wrote  out  the  prescription,  which  the 
patient,  now  quiet  and  passive,  smilingly  said  she 
would  take.  Rising  from  his  seat,  he  observed 
a  large  photograph,  hanging  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  room ;  and  then  he  recognized  the  face  of 
the  crippled  lady  he  had  seen  in  these  several  vis- 
ions. His  eyes  naturally  remained  fixed  on  this 
picture  for  a  few  moments,  when  the  mother  of 
the  patient  addressed  him  saying,  "You  note  the 


214  Man    Limitless. 

resemblance,  perhaps.  That  is  my  daughter's 
sister.  She,  poor  girl,  was  a  cripple  and  forced 
to  use  crutches  from  childhood.  She,  however, 
was  always  smiling  and  cheerful.  She  died 
nearly  two  years  ago  and  her  sister,  for  whom 
you  have  prescribed  to-day,  has  been  ill  almost 
from  that  date. ' '  Within  a  few  weeks  from  that 
time  the  patient  became  perfectly  well  and 
strong  under  this  physician's  care.  Though  the 
occurrence  took  place  several  years  ago,  this 
young  lady  continues  in  excellent  health. 

Did  that  sister,  a  spirit,  on  the  other  side, 
recognize  in  this  physician  one  who  could  under- 
stand her  sister's  case?  Was  she  striving  for 
over  a  year  to  bring  about  a  way  to  introduce 
the  case  to  him  ?  Of  course,  new  cases  often  came 
to  him,  and  come  to  every  physician  upon  the 
recommendation  of  patients.  There  are  features 
about  this  case  that,  coupled  with  other  experi- 
ences of  my  own,  I  feel  the  sister  on  the  spirit 
side  divined — learned  through  sources  we  may 
not  know  here — that  this  physician  could  restore 
her  sister  to  health,  and  she  made  it  her  work  to 
bring  about  the  meeting.  Evidently  from  this 
and  innumerable  other  cases  with  which  I  am 
familiar,  the  spirit  guides  often  find  difficulties 
in  solving  the  problems  they  undertake  just  as 
man  on  the  earth  plane.  Can  we  not  give  them 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  215 

help  in  their  work  and  so  hasten  the  coming  of 
our  own  good  to  us  ? 

In  the  spring  of  1903  I  was  contemplating  a 
trip  to  Mexico.  Certain  other  business  affairs 
barred  my  going  as  I  anticipated,  and  two  fixed 
dates  for  starting  had  to  be  abandoned.  At  one 
of  our  sittings  in  April  I  asked  as  to  the  date 
when  I  would  be  able  to  leave  New  York  for 
Mexico.  I  named  several  dates  in  May,  running 
finally  to  about  the  middle,  and  was  told  it  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  start  on  any  of  these. 
Then  I  said,  "Will  I  go  in  May  at  all?"  I  was 
told,  ' '  No,  that  would  be  impossible. "  ' '  Well, ' ' 
I  added,  "as  I  must  be  back  a  few  days  before 
the  1st  of  July,  it  would  be  practically  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  go  at  all,  as  you  see  it,  would  it 
not?"  and  the  reply  came,  "No."  I  was  told 
then  that  I  would  go  down,  and  that  I  would  re- 
turn before  July  1st.  While  this  conversation 
was  going  on,  our  medium  saw  clairvoyantly 
written  out  on  my  breast  the  date,  June  3rd.  On 
asking  the  guide  if  that  was  the  date  fixed,  I  was 
told,  "Yes."  For  weeks  following  I  did  every- 
thing I  could  to  get  away  in  May.  On  two  occa- 
sions I  had  transportation  engaged  and  sleeper. 
I  was  forced  to  defer  leaving  on  each  of  these 
dates,  and  not  until  the  third  day  of  June  did  I 
start.  I  returned  a  few  days  before  the  1st  of 


2i6  Man    Limitless. 

July,  and  I  accomplished  my  work  just  as  I  was 
told  I  would  do,  and  within  the  time  named. 

In  the  spring  of  1904  I  had  arranged  a  trip  to 
El  Paso,  Texas,  to  meet  some  engineers,  expect- 
ing for  business  reasons  that  I  might  be  obliged 
to  extend  my  trip  to  Guaymas,  Mexico.  Prom 
the  same  source  I  was  told  that  there  would  be  no 
need  whatever  of  my  going  to  Mexico  and  that 
I  would  complete  all  my  business  at  El  Paso.  I 
was  told  the  people  I  desired  meeting  would  be 
there  to  meet  me,  and  that  everything  would  be 
accomplished  within  a  few  days  to  my  complete 
satisfaction.  Upon  reaching  El  Paso  I  found 
myself  waited  for ;  and  within  forty-eight  hours 
I  had  completed  the  entire  business.  To  go  to 
Mexico  to  the  point  I  named  I  found  was  not 
necessary  at  all ;  and  again,  I  found  there  would 
be  no  use  in  doing  so  as  the  person  I  thought  of 
meeting  there  had  gone  to  the  City  of  Mexico 
where  he  was  likely  to  be  detained  several  weeks. 

There  were  many  messages  and  communica- 
tions received  at  these  sittings  that  might  be  pre- 
sented, but  the  relation  of  these  would  only  be 
to  extend  this  article;  and  again,  to  bring  some 
of  the  best  of  them  forward  in  detail  to  the  pub- 
lic, I  would  need  to  have  the  assent  of  others. 

As  to  telepathy,  I  have  found  that  when  I  tried 
to  call  people  to  me,  I  have  generally  succeeded, 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  217 

though  not  always.  There  is  one  case  that  was 
rather  peculiar.  While  dressing  one  morning  I 
felt  the  necessity  of  seeing  a  gentleman  stopping 
at  a  hotel,  before  a  meeting  that  was  to  take  place 
between  him  and  another  at  one  o'clock.  Sud- 
denly it  came  to  me  that  there  was  no  need  of  our 
meeting  and  I  dismissed  the  thought  from  my 
mind.  At  about  half -past  ten  the  gentleman  that 
I  felt  I  ought  to  see  called,  and  I  asked  him  how 
it  was  he  happened  in  my  office.  He  replied  he 
had  been  down  town  and  had  started  back  to  his 
hotel  and  paid  his  fare  in  the  street  car.  When 
he  reached  the  point  where  the  car  was  passing 
my  office,  he  said  he  felt  impelled  to  leave  it  and 
come.  I  told  him  I  had  called  him  in  the  morn- 
ing and  thought  it  was  very  necessary  we  meet 
before  the  other  meeting,  and  then  later  I  felt 
there  was  no  need  of  it.  It  seemed,  however,  that 
he  got  the  message  just  the  same  and  he  ap- 
peared. 

Within  the  past  year  I  mailed  a  letter  to  a  for- 
eign country  that  I,  a  week  afterward,  decided  to 
recall.  I  sent  a  telepathic  message  to  a  friend 
who  was  in  that  country,  over  three  thousand 
miles  distant,  asking  he  procure  the  letter  and 
return  it  me  unopened.  One  month  later  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  him  saying  he  had  taken  the 
liberty  of  holding  a  letter  from  me  addressed  to 


2i8  Man    Limitless. 

another,  he  feeling  constrained  to  do  so,  believing 
I  desired  this,  because  of  some  things  he  had  dis- 
covered relating  to  business  matters  that  I  may 
not  relate  here,  and  because  of  an  intuitive  im- 
pression urging  him  to  do  this  act. 

I  have  sometimes  felt  that  the  messages  we  re- 
ceive telepathically  are  brought  by  spirit  guides 
and  passed  from  one  to  another  of  them.  Is  not 
this  more  natural  and  simple  than  to  ascribe  it 
wholly  to  those  subtle  undetermined  vibrations 
through  the  ethers  ?  If  this  should  be  found  to  be 
true,  then  when  we  sit  very  quietly  and  ask  our 
spirit  forces  to  carry  the  message,  we  are  certain 
of  one  thing,  and  that  is,  we  have  delivered  the 
message  properly.  We  have  done  our  part.  We 
then  should  image  before  us  the  person  to  whom 
the  message  is  addressed  and  picture  him  receiv- 
ing it.  We  who  send  the  message  following  this 
plan  doubtless  do  all  that  we  can  do.  Now,  if  this 
is  how  messages  may  be  carried,  then  it  is  clearly 
seen  why  they  are  not  always  received.  The 
messenger  takes  them  from  us.  That  part  is  sim- 
ple. But  he  may  not  be  able  to  deliver  them  to 
the  consciousness  of  another.  I  can  clearly  see, 
however,  that  if  two  persons  arranged  to  com- 
municate by  telepathy  at  a  certain  hour  and  each 
put  himself  in  a  receptive  mood,  there  ought  be 
no  failure  in  the  receipt  of  the  messages.  I  am 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  219 

only  offering  these  suggestions  as  a  possible  ex- 
planation for  the  transmission  of  messages  from 
one  to  another  by  means  of  what  is  now  called 
telepathy,  not  implying,  however,  that  thought 
is  not  carried  independently  also  through  vibra- 
tions. More  experiments  must  be  made,  and  I 
merely  suggest  some  be  made  on  this  theory  of 
spirits  being  the  messengers. 

A  recent  experiment  of  the  Society  of  Psychi- 
cal Research  has  been  brought  to  my  attention 
since  I  prepared  this  paper.  This  experiment 
shows  (Prof.  James  Hyslop  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity declares)  that  the  message  was  carried 
through  the  agency  of  a  spirit.  It  was  a  message 
of  four  words  transmitted  almost  instantaneously 
between  Mrs.  Piper  in  the  United  States  to  an 
English  medium  in  England.  It  was  sent  in 
English  and  given  in  Latin.  Prof.  Hyslop  re- 
marks upon  this: 

"The  conditions  were  such  that  it  came 
through  the  medium's  subliminal  consciousness 
in  that  language.  Understand,  she  doesn't  know 
Latin  herself. 

"The  public  does  not  understand  the  probable 
relations  between  a  medium  and  his  control — by 
'  control '  I  mean  a  spirit,  or  whatever  it  is  which 
is  sending  the  message.  The  medium,  as  every 
one  knows,  is  in  an  abnormal  mental  condition 


22O  Man    Limitless. 

when  the  message  is  received — a  clairvoyant  con- 
dition we  call  it. 

"In  the  latest  experiment  with  transmission 
between  the  United  States  and  England  we  used 
every  precaution  to  insure  against  accident,  col- 
lusion or  fraud.  I  do  not  know  if  it  was  trans- 
mitted instantaneously.  It  was  certainly  sent 
and  delivered  inside  of  half  an  hour.  The  sen- 
tence used  was  not  a  stock  phrase  which  might 
be  hit  upon  at  the  other  end  by  guesswork.  It 
was  an  unusual  phrase  made  up  at  the  moment 
of  sending. 

' '  As  nearly  as  we  can  make  out,  the  conditions 
in  the  spirit  world  are  such  that  space  is  not  a 
factor  with  them.  That  ability  to  command 
space  seems  to  be  common  with  them.  A  thou- 
sand miles  is  no  more  than  an  inch.  However, 
we  have  made  only  a  few  experiments  in  that  di- 
rection. ' ' 

From  the  experiments  of  others  recorded  and 
my  own,  I  then  deduce  in  regard  to  guidance  to 
man  from  the  other  world,  the  following  conclu- 
sions :  Man  is  in  touch  with  the  supreme  power  of 
the  universe  through  spirit  messengers.  Back  of 
all  is  this  wonderful  force  of  which  we  talk  much 
and  know  little.  We  can,  however,  get  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  medium  between  us  and  the 
great  center.  The  medium  or  mediums  between 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  221 

UB  and  the  great  center  are  these  spirit  forces.  If 
our  desire  is  of  the  highest  and  noblest,  we  must 
learn  to  cultivate  an  atmosphere  about  us  which 
will  permit  the  entrance  of  a  band  of  guides  who 
will  find  in  our  aura  a  delectable  climate.  The 
power  of  suggestion  is  clearly  seen,  under  this 
explanation.  We  suggest  to  ourselves  or  suggest 
to  another  a  longing  or  desire,  and  hold  that 
thought  firmly  for  a  time.  This  gives  our  atmos- 
phere an  attractive  power  for  the  spirit  force  we 
need,  in  order  that  help  may  be  obtained  from  it 
to  convert  that  longing  into  realization.  Re- 
peated suggestions  should  often  be  made,  as  the 
first  may  not  have  force  enough  to  bring  about 
the  conditions  that  are  necessary,  in  order  that 
the  full  strength  of  the  spirit  band  may  be 
brought  together  for  the  end  desired. 

It  may  be  asked,  if  this  be  true  and  there 
are  evil  spirits  as  well  as  good,  may  not  one  with 
evil  tendencies  gain  power  from  the  unseen  to 
assist  him  even  in  crime  ?  To  this  question  I  can 
only  reply,  ' '  Yes. ' '  There  is  this,  however,  to  be 
noted.  If  any  one  works  to  injure  another, 
although  he  may  bring  this  evil  force  about  him 
to  assist  him  in  his  purpose,  at  the  same  time 
there  is  an  antagonistic  force  on  the  other  side 
surrounding  the  other  with  which  he  and  his 
cohorts  must  battle.  It  is  only  where  the  central 


222  Man    Limitless. 

thought  of  the  mind  is  good  and  for  genera,  ad- 
vancement— although  it  may  be  coupled  with  am- 
bitious desires,  there  is  no  wrong  in  that — that 
one  can  call  a  strong  band,  and  a  band  that  will 
marshal  others  possessing  even  greater  power 
than  themselves  to  aid  those  they  love  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  purpose.  Then  there  can  be 
no  opposing  forces  to  be  fought  because  the 
whole  tendency  and  effort  of  the  central  force 
of  the  universe  toward  all  humanity  is  and  must 
be  for  its  advancement,  unfoldment  and  progress. 
I,  therefore,  claim  that  in  recognizing  these 
spirit  forces,  we  do  not  take  away  from  man  his 
God.  The  venerable  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  in  an 
address  at  Appleton  Chapel,  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, in  December,  1904,  said:  "The  times  de- 
mand a  God — not  far  off  and  only  reached 
through  sacerdotalism  and  Bible-made  theology, 
but  an  all-pervading  spirit  of  life,  truth,  vitality 
and  beauty,  illuminating  all  things,  pervading  all 
things,  nearer  to  each  physical  entity  than  hands 
and  feet. ' '  Continuing  in  his  description  of  what 
he  believes  to  be  a  reasonable  God,  Dr.  Abbott 
said: — ''He  is  an  energy,  as  tangible  to  science 
and  literature  and  history,  and  as  provable 
by  them  as  by  revelation.  Each  of  these  three 
world  forces  tells  that  there  is  one  eternal 
energy.  No  thinking  man  will  say  there  are 


Spirit  Aid  in  Man's  Unfolding.  223 

many  energies.  The  days  of  polytheism  are  past. 
There  is  only  one  energy.  That  energy  has  al- 
ways been  working.  It  is  an  intelligent  energy. 
No  scientist  can  deny  it." 

If  one  can  conceive  of  a  personality  constitut- 
ing this  infinite  energy  and  embracing  all  life 
connected  therewith,  I  will  not  argue  denying  it. 
I  cannot  recognize  that  force  to  be  a  personality 
and  always  omnipotent,  omniscient  and  omni- 
present. If  one  can  conceive  of  a  personality 
with  these  attributes,  he  must  reason  differently 
from  me;  perhaps  it  may  be  true.  We  have 
much  unfoldment  to  do  before  we  will  reach  and 
know  this  wondrous  force,  and  yet  to  accomplish 
that  is  attainable  knowledge.  If  man  works  in 
this  philosophy,  aided  by  these  spirit  forces,  a 
day  will  arrive  in  the  upward  trend  of  develop- 
ment when  he  will  walk,  not  only  with  exalted 
spirits  who  will  aid  and  direct  him  in  all  the 
affairs  of  life ;  but  finally  he  may  reach  by  direct 
communication  the  infinite  force  itself.  Long 
before  that  time  comes,  however,  man  will  have 
evolved  to  a  position  where  his  knowledge  must 
exceed  that  of  any  of  those  preceding  him  on 
this  planet. 

The  papers  in  this  volume  lead  up  to  the  pos- 
sibilities of  ultimate  man.  Let  one  acquaint 
himself  with  the  spirit  forces  about  him,  let  him 


224  Man    Limitless. 

learn  how  to  aid  those  forces  to  do  their  best 
work,  let  him  recognize  right  thinking  to  be  his 
elementary  and  daily  task,  and  that  it  teaches 
worthy  desire  to  be  merely  the  forerunner  of 
realization;  and  then  there  will  be  growth  and 
progress  for  humanity  more  wonderful  than  at 
any  previous  period  marked  by  history.  Life 
then  will  take  a  grander,  truer,  holier  meaning, 
for  man  will  know  no  prejudice,  no  superstition, 
no  environment,  no  limitations. 


19745 


-. 


WHERE    THEY    LOST    THEIR    LUCK. 

IN  dawdling. 

In  indecision. 

In  poor  judgment. 

In  worrying  and  fretting. 

In  magnifying  difficulties. 

In  trusting  unworthy  people. 

In  trying  to  get  rich  quickly. 

In  letting  their  ambition  cool. 

In  not  daring  to  take  chances. 

In  making  a  business  of  pleasure. 

In  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up. 

In  working  only  when  they  felt  like  it. 

In  negl«^ng  their  personal  appearance. 

In  look^^  on  the  dark  side  of  everything. 

In  ovi-reonfidence  born  of  a  first  easy  victory. 

In  not  being  ready  for  the  opportunity  when  it 
came. 

In  dreaming  of  great  things  instead  of  doing  the 
little  ones  at  hand. 


LIBRA 


